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A cruiser with class Grand Soleil’s first true cruising yacht REVIEWED

Jeanneau’s automatic sail trim system – will it change the way we cruise?

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great ways to get more from your iPad

1,500 miles with no rudder How one couple coped

CRUISING

To the Arctic in a dayboat Preparing for an Atlantic crossing 21 best upgrades for offshore RACING

Action from Les Voiles de St Tropez Short-handed racer – the new J/11S

DECEMBER 2015

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1,500 miles to go and no rudder When the rudder on his 39-footer broke in midAtlantic, Patrick Marshall set up a jury rig and sailed 1,500 miles. He explains how he did it

AT A GLANCE NEWS

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Clipper yacht beached – Sir Robin Knox-Johnston comes to the rescue

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Bermuda hosts America’s Cup series Swan’s new direction

NEW GEAR AND YACHTS

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21 best upgrades for ocean cruising For comfort and safety

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New yachts We focus on big boats from Cannes and Monaco

CRUISING

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Catamaran Sailing Techniques 3: Anchoring

RACING

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Top ways to use your iPad/tablet

Prepared for the ocean

How are sailors using their tablets on board? Matthew Sheahan spoke to cruisers, racers and industry professionals

Meteorologist Chris Tibbs details how he prepped his yacht for a circumnavigation, starting with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

62 76 On test: Grand Soleil 46LC

New gear: assisted sail trim

The first true cruising yacht from this Italian yard is stylish, comfortable and easy to handle, finds Toby Hodges

Jeanneau and Harken collaborate to produce a system that can trim, tack and even furl your sails automatically

Published monthly on the second Thursday of the month by Time Inc (UK) Ltd, The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU ©Time Inc (UK) Ltd, 2015 ISSN 0043-9991

Having a blast Glamour, excitement and beautiful yachts at Les Voiles de St Tropez

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Solo round a Danish rock On the gruelling Silver Rudder Race

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Boat of the month The J/11S, designed for short-handed racing

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5 tips: Port and starboard cross

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From the Editor Letters Matthew Sheahan Skip Novak Great Seamanship Yachts for sale Classified advertisements Backfire COVER PICTURE Grand Soleil’s 46LC – for Long Cruise – which we tested off the Ligurian coast of Italy. See page 62. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

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We are the spirit of adventure and innovation

Autonomous yachts?

Imagine a yacht that sails itself. You step aboard and, at the press of a few buttons, it steers you where you want to go and adjusts the sails to suit. All you have to do is navigate and keep watch, though with modern software and AIS perhaps your computer will be able to most of that for you too.

This scenario is no more far-fetched than the driverless car, which we considered futuristic until Google developed the technology. Now experts say they will be widespread in ten years.

So why not sailing? Together, Harken and Jeanneau, two of the marine industry’s big hitters, are launching an Assisted Sail Trim system. This can tack by releasing and taking up sheets, and will trim or ease them if a certain heel angle is exceeded.

To appreciate how welcome this might be, you only have to think of how most of us actually cruise. Do we really spend our time easing sails out and grinding them in? Do we heck. Think of how we use our autopilots. After half an hour on the wheel, more often than not a finger reaches out for the pilot ‘auto’ button.

While unromantic, assisted systems are a great advance. There’s a lot to be said, especially on larger yachts, for labour-saving inventions (like our autopilots) that remove some of the grunt without compromising any of the joy.

Elaine Bunting Editor Twitter @elainebunting

AND ANOTHER THING . . .

Congratulations to teenager Natasha Lambert on her British Empire Medal.

Having sailed solo round the Isle of Wight, across the Channel and to Wales despite suffering from cerebral palsy, she is starting a sailing school for disabled people who require sip and puffoperated controls

Bermuda has a massive job ahead to prepare the infrastructure needed for the America’s Cup in 2017. The total cost of hosting it has been estimated at US$75m. They believe they could make $250m back. I hope so.

We often hear of yachtsmen rescued by cargo ships, but rarely get to see how desperately dangerous it is. A video shot by a US Coast Guard helicopter of a solo sailor (and his cat) shows it. Shocking. www.yachtingworld.com/video

Become a Yachting World reader with benefits: visit www.yachtingworld.com/16S to subscribe today

ON THE WIND

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

PICTURE THIS Mirror finish loyd Thornburg’s MOD70 trimaran Phaedo3 capped a successful season with a line honours win in the Rolex Middle Sea Race in Malta in October. With skipper Brian Thompson – pictured here at the bow under the shade of his hat – the crew finished the 600-mile course in 2d 11h.

The race had long periods of light winds, but it produced some dramatically close finishes. Two yachts, Michele Galli’s TP52 B2 and Vincenzo Onorato’s Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino, finished within sight of each other and, after three-and-a-half days at sea, B2 corrected out to beat Mascalzone Latino by just seven seconds.

Photo by Samuel Scicluna Photography

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ON THE WIND

Sir Robin to the rescue of Clipper yacht

t was supposed to be a simple journey to another marina to be lifted for new hull graphics. But a grounding in Brazil after the first leg of the Clipper Round the World Race put LMAX Exchange on the beach. Recovering the 72ft yacht became a major exercise in lateral thinking, and it was Clipper chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston himself who came to the rescue.

After winning the first leg of the race from London to Rio de Janeiro, Clipper Ventures yacht 24, LMAX Exchange, ran aground at 0012 local time on a sandy outcrop 42 miles south-west of Marina da Gloria, as reported by skipper Olivier Cardin.

Conditions at the time were good, with light winds. Fortunately, none of the four crew was injured, but the yacht was swept up the beach by large surf, making it impossible to motor off.

When Sir Robin got the news he made his way to the scene of the accident aboard another Clipper Ventures yacht, Great Britain, to assess the damage. But getting to the boat was not an easy task.

“I went ashore to LMAX in an inflatable through the surf, and it overturned,” he says.

“In fact, in the five times I went ashore, for trips to other boats and, later, to the tug, only on one occasion were we not overturned.”

He was able to confirm that the hull was intact and LMAX secured by her anchor. The decision was made to stand by for the arrival of heavier equipment to get the yacht off.

But this was to be another challenge.

The race management team had organised a tug, but there were delays. “We

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were promised a tug, but the arrival time kept being put back,” says Sir Robin. In the end, we had to wait four days. While we waited I and the crew from LMAX Exchange set up a makeshift camp on the beach where we cooked on an open fire as we prepared the boat for the recovery.

“We had turned the boat around through 90° so she faced out to sea. To do that we had to move 7-8 tons of sand with cooking pots to free the beached part of the stern and then pivot her round on the keel using the anchor. We were lucky on that day as the surf was down.”

Keen to get LMAX Exchange off the beach, the team decided to use one of the other Clipper Venture yachts, Qingdao, to haul her off. But in attempting the salvage Qingdao got a line caught around her prop and ended up on the beach as well.

“When Qingdao went aground we then had a total of nine people on the beach.

Unfortunately, my phone battery ran out and we were left with no communications and so didn’t know how progress with the tug was going. We just had to sit and wait.”

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Above: LMAX Exchange on the beach in Brazil after grounding on a routine transfer to another marina.

Below: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston took charge

In the end, when the tug did arrive the decision was made to take Qingdao off first and tow her to Verolme, Angra Dos Reis.

“We attached a 10in hawser around the keel to take the load and then a line from the hawser through the bow and back on board to keep the hawser in place. We decided not to attach the line to anywhere on deck, or to the mast, but instead to the strongest attachment on the boat, the keel.”

But when the tug arrived there were still some obstacles to overcome.

“I swam out to the dinghy and then made my way out to the tug,” explains Sir Robin.

“The tug captain didn’t speak English and I speak no Portuguese, but using sketches we agreed in 10-15 minutes on the procedure.”

Qingdao was the first to be hauled off the beach. By the time the exercise was completed and LMAX Exchange had been refloated Sir Robin, who had arrived in just a T-shirt and shorts, had been on the beach for five days.

Looking back on the incident, he says: “The cause of the accident was very simple.

There was no equipment failure, the two chaps on watch simply fell asleep.

“Fortunately these boats are very sturdy and the damage was just to one rudder, which we knew we could repair. We had kept the bits that had broken off, which meant we managed to repair the boats in two and a half days.”

Both boats were surveyed and given clean bills of health, and skipper Cardin and his crew set off on the second leg to Cape Town four days after the rest of the fleet.

Finn Karstens

The distinctive Sailing Yacht A, called White Pearl during her build, has some strong motor yacht traits

‘Sailing Yacht A’ is larger than life These first pictures of Sailing Yacht A, with her towering free-standing masts now stepped, show the jaw-dropping scale of the world’s largest sail-assisted yacht. At 143m/470ft she is nearly 200ft longer than the Cutty Sark and the Maltese Falcon.

The build details and exact data of Sailing Yacht A remain a closely guarded secret as her interior is still being completed. But when she officially launches in 2016, she will easily surpass the 316ft Sea Cloud as the largest sailing yacht afloat.

These photographs were taken during early sea trials from the Nobiskrug yard responsible for her construction in Germany. Dubbed White Pearl during her build, Sailing Yacht A belongs to Andrey Melnichenk, a Russian industrialist with a net worth of nearly US$9 billion.

Her unusual looks will divide opinion even more than did his previous superyacht, the 390ft Motor Yacht A – both vessels were designed by Philippe Starck. Sailing Yacht A is arguably more like a motor yacht with masts than a sailing yacht. She has a

LENGTH

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£260m

TOTAL SAIL AREA

MAST WEIGHT

3,700m2 50 tonnes

bulbous bow forefoot and a stark triangular profile with huge oval portholes that are completely flush. Her steel hull has eight decks, an underwater observation room in the keel, and room for 20 guests and 54 crew.

The yacht is rumoured to cost £260m.

Dykstra Naval Architects designed the rig (and keel), Magma Structures in the UK built the giant masts and Future Fibres made the custom booms. Her three free-standing masts are the world’s tallest carbon composite masts and took more than 70 people over three years to build at Magma in Portsmouth. Each weighs around 50 tonnes and supports a sail area greater than a standard-sized football pitch. Sail deployment, setting and reefing is all push-button controlled.

The total sail area is estimated to be more than 3,700m2/40,000ft2 and she is expected to be able to make up to 21 knots under power. The innovative project could serve as a demonstration to cargo ship owners that sail is a practical adjunct to power in the drive for fuel saving.

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Photos: KV Bergen/ Norwegian Coastguard

ON THE WIND

Solo sailor watches his home sink round the world sailor who has lived aboard his yacht for ten years watched her sink under tow last month as a series of small problems on board escalated into the loss of his boat.

Julian Mustoe, 82, was sailing his 25ft Harrier of Down in October on a 200-mile passage from the Shetland Islands to Bergen in Norway. Mustoe is a highly experienced sailor who had made a circumnavigation in the same yacht in the wake of Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle and had written and published a book about the adventure. He explains what happened: ‘To begin with all went well. During Sunday a sailing breeze from the south-west carried me eastward in good style. The following night the wind returned, but not from a favourable direction nor with a comfortable strength. It came in from the east and it soon increased to Force 7-8.

‘I hove-to to wait until the forecast wind should return. Harrier lay quietly under a fully reefed mainsail as the 3-4m waves rolled past to the west.

‘At dawn the next day the strong wind continued to blow beneath a heavy grey sky.

I could not receive additional radio weather forecasts in the middle of the North Sea. I carried a 3m diameter parachute-type sea anchor, together with a heavy nylon warp 100m long. I therefore deployed the sea

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anchor and settled down to await a change in the weather. That night life on board was uncomfortable and wet, but not dangerous.

‘The next day something went wrong with our motion in the seas. I quickly found that the steering gear had failed. The tiller on Harrier is connected to the rudder stock by means of a hefty block of stainless steel.

The top of the stock was bolted to the stainless block through a tightly fitting vertical splined hole. The entire stainless steel block had split into two pieces along the line of the rudder stock hole.

‘The rudder could not be used, it was now impossible to steer the yacht and no improvised repair was possible. I knew I

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Above: Julian Mustoe, 82, watches from on board the Norwegian patrol vessel as his yacht, Harrier of Down, sinks under tow

would have to be towed back to harbour.

‘The failure of the steering gear had nothing to do with the bad weather, and it could have happened just as easily to a large fully crewed yacht as to Harrier and me.

‘Most parts of the North Sea are quite heavily trafficked. I radioed an oil industry patrol ship, the Prospector, and asked them to enquire if the Shetland lifeboat could come out nearly 100 miles and tow me back to Lerwick. The message was taken by the Lerwick Coastguard, who assumed that my situation was dire, and they proposed to send out a rescue helicopter.

‘Via Prospector I was able to reply that I needed a tow, but that I did not need to be

Jeanneau hails revolutionary assisted sail-handling system In a groundbreaking partnership, Jeanneau and Harken have launched a new system that can tack and trim a yacht’s sails automatically. Assisted Sail Trim (AST), which the two companies have developed over the past three years, uses sensor-driven reversible or captive winches to allow a yacht’s sails to be trimmed, tacked or even furled automatically, and controlled from a single screen at the helm.

Whether you like the idea or abhor the thought, AST takes mainstream sailing into the realms of automated sail handling. The use of the word ‘assisted’ rather than ‘automated’ is crucial, though.

“We are not trying to make the Google car,” says

Jeanneau’s sailboat product director Erik Stromberg.

“No one is looking to go fully automatic sailing. AST is more like cruise control, in that you need to have a driver’s licence and knowledge to use it first.”

It is a system primarily designed to assist the sail handling of larger yachts.

AST was developed with Harken over a three-year period aboard a Sun Odyssey 519 and is designed for use initially on the 50ft-plus range.

It represents yet another major, innovative step from Groupe Beneteau in its drive towards making sailing easier and more accessible.

See our special report in New Gear on page 76.

Academy sailors post best ever results Alan Roberts from Southampton, has crowned the best year yet for Artemis Offshore Academy solo sailors and alumni by clinching a top ten finish in the French championship of solo offshore racing.

Roberts (right), 26, finished 9th overall in the Championship of France, which incorporates results from the main solo races, including the Solitaire du Figaro and the Generali Solo Mediterranée, This bettered the record of Sam Davies, who finished 10th in 2004, and is the best finish by a British sailor in the last 40 years.

Roberts is now aiming for a coveted top-five finish in the Figaro next year while his long term dream remains a place on the Vendée Globe solo round the world race startline in 2020.

“But I am under no illusions. I still think I am the least experienced offshore sailor in the Figaro fleet,“ he says. “Next year it will be a case of continuing the learning process and walking further down the path towards the Vendée Globe.”

Roberts apart, it was a great year for the Academy. Robin Elsey from Falmouth was top rookie in the Figaro, finishing 15th overall. Henry Bomby scored the highest ever finish for a British sailor on a Figaro leg by finishing 4th in Rockfish

Alexis Courcoux

rescued from the air. Lerwick responded by asking the Norwegian coastguard service to come out and fetch me.

‘At dawn on Thursday a Norwegian patrol boat, the KV Bergen, was in sight. She offered to tow me to Norway provided only that I left Harrier and came aboard the ship.

I scrambled onto their RIB and was taken to the ship. Harrier was attached by a long warp astern and the tow began, in apparently good order, towards the coast of Norway less than 100 miles away. Harrier was floating buoyantly astern and the ship was steaming ahead at a modest five knots.

I got into a bunk and fell into a deep sleep.

‘When I awoke in the late afternoon, I was told that Harrier was sinking. What?! She had been taking on water and was now towing astern in a half-submerged condition. I went to the ship’s bridge, from which I could see my lovely little boat struggling for her life. Slowly she sank lower into the water. One last time her bow came up out of the water, as if she were gasping for breath. Then her hull slipped beneath the surface, her mast sank into the water, the tow rope snapped and Harrier disappeared from sight for ever. I felt as if I was watching an old friend drown.

‘I do not know what went wrong. Harrier was a strong boat and she should have towed successfully for hundreds of miles.

Did a window fail and admit water? Was she damaged by striking an obstruction?

‘Whatever the cause she was gone, and with her most of my possessions and much of my small amount of money.’

Julian Mustoe’s yacht sank in 300m and cannot be salvaged. As well as losing the yacht he has spent so many years on, he has lost his home.

“I am a shipwrecked sailor,” he laments.

“Life will not be the same again, and just what the future holds for me I do not know.”

He is being looked after by sailing friends, who have set up a Just Giving page to raise money. You can find it at https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/ harrierappeal

Red on stage two. Nick Cherry, sailing Redshift, finished 5th in the Generali Solo Mediterranée.

“The results this year have been very heartening,“ comments Charles Darbyshire, sailing team manager at the Academy. “We are beginning to see real strength in depth and next year looks very promising.”

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Photos: Ricardo Pinto/ACEA 2015

ON THE WIND

Bermuda puts on enthusiastic dress rehearsal for America’s Cup The island state hosted the America’s Cup World Series in October and gave us an idea how the Cup 2017 will look. Matthew Sheahan reports here was a lot riding on the final Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event of the 2015 season – and not only for the teams. Hosted by Bermuda, the venue for the America’s Cup in 2017, the show was far more than just another professional regatta; it was a crucial dress rehearsal for the small Atlantic island.

Bermuda is remote, 650 miles from its nearest neighbour. With insufficient land mass to influence wind conditions from most directions, the Great Sound feels more like a lake in the middle of an ocean.

In many ways it is the perfect racing venue and will take the short-course, quickfire style of Cup racing back to basics.

Crews need to keep their eyes out of the boat for gusts rather than memorise a detailed weather briefing. This is hands-on sailing at high speed. As a result this event suggested a more level playing field than we have seen for some time.

The welcome from the locals is also

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something that struck me from the minute I arrived. This is a big show in the smallest territory in the history of the Cup and the locals are bursting with pride at having won the gig. Everyone wants to talk about it.

The Cup will have a massive positive impact here, something that couldn’t be said for San Francisco, no matter how much fun it was to attend.

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Above: Oracle were keen to perform on their home patch, but finished 3rd.

Below: Artemis collided with an umpire boat

But the next 18 months won’t be without their problems and I’m not sure the full scale of the task ahead has fully sunk in.

The building of the America’s Cup park next to the historic dockyard is a hugely ambitious project on a shockingly tight deadline. It starts with reclaiming eight acres of land within the harbour before any building can even begin.

Then there’s the issue of crowd management. Getting people to and from the Cup venue will need to be by boat from Hamilton or via a country lane.

There is also the issue of managing the racecourse. Previous Cups have proved that it takes a great deal of practice to get this right. Now we have the added complication of boats travelling at high speeds and a spectator fleet several boats deep. The risks were clearly illustrated by a collision between Artemis and an umpire boat.

Miraculously no one was hurt.

At times the spectator fleet was frighteningly close to the action and there was nowhere for the race boats to go if they ran into difficulties. This isn’t just me being chicken; it was the views of some of the top sailors after the racing. As one crew member told me: “On the last downwind leg we were talking about where we would go after crossing the finish line rather than tactics for the leg, we were that concerned.”

And getting the practice required for

Sander van der Borch/Artemis

Front street in Hamilton was a busier festival than any of the locals had seen before

race management will be difficult: there are no future events planned in Bermuda between now and 2017.

Communications were another issue.

Mobile coverage on the water fell over, leaving spectators and professionals with no phone signal, no means of tracking the fleet via the app and problems sending back information from the course area.

Still, the Bermudans are bullish. “We feel very comfortable with the plans that have been put in place,” says Michael Dunkley, Bermuda’s Premier. “We will look at this event and make any tweaks that we have to for 2017. As far as opportunities going forward towards 2017 go, we will have to grasp those as they arise.”

But it has left me wondering if there is a problem with the America’s Cup World Series format. Is putting all this effort and money involved on a two-day racing series a risk too far? With gales in Portsmouth and calms on one day of the Bermuda series, two of the three events got in only half the scheduled racing. Surely it would be better to extend the racing and make at least one of the practice days count for points?

Overall, did Bermuda work? Absolutely, yes, and the prospect for 2017 looks exciting with a refreshingly different, challenging, hands-on, fast-paced format in a picturesque and welcoming venue.

But it is also definitely a work in progress.

Artemis takes the series, but the Kiwis lead overall at the end of 2015 After losing a complete day of racing after the wind failed to materialise on the opening Saturday of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Bermuda, on the last day three races were sailed back to back in perfect conditions. The result was a victory for Artemis.

After a miserable Portsmouth showing and a deeply disappointing Gothenburg event, Artemis needed to prove to themselves, and they did so in an impressive performance in the first race.

But just minutes later, their world came crashing down as helmsman Nathan Outteridge bore away towards the line and collided head to head with one of the umpire RIBs. Minutes later the mess had been cleared up.

Incredibly, on the next race the team got a perfect start and went on to win.

Meanwhile, Sir Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR was also having problems. A tricky call that went wrong at the windward gate was compounded by foil control issues. “We couldn’t control our

starboard daggerboard downwind,” Ainslie explained. “We were flying very high and skidding sideways badly. A combination of the two things dropped us from first to last.”

FINAL RESULTS FROM BERMUDA 1. Artemis Racing (SWE) 2. Emirates Team NZ (NZL) 3. Oracle Team USA (USA) 4. Land Rover BAR (GBR) 5. SoftBank Team Japan (JPN) 6, Groupama Team France (FRA)

PODIUM PLACES AFTER 2015 SERIES 1. Emirates Team NZ (NZL) 122 points 2. Oracle Team USA (USA) 112 points 3. Land Rover BAR (GBR) 109 points

See Matthew Sheahan’s reports, analysis and videos from Bermuda online at yachtingworld.com/americas-cup

New British development boat Land Rover BAR has launched its latest boat, known as T2. This is the team’s second development boat. The new 45ft wingmasted cat has the same hulls as an AC45f, but is radically different elsewhere and believed to be considerably faster.

See our feature online for an explanation of the various boats that make up the British campaign and why they are so different. yachtingworld.com/BART2

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ON THE WIND IN BRIEF

This evocative black and white photo of the Fife herring drifter Reaper (Fife the place, not the yacht designer) leaving St Monans on the east coast of Scotland was taken by Alaistair Ramsay from Anstruther, Fife.

Reaper is a restored two-masted lugger built in Fraserburgh in 1902 and one of the few yachts in the core collection of the UK’s National Historic Ships Fleet kept in seagoing condition.

The image won Ramsay top prize in the National Historic Ships photography competition. The award of £1,000 goes to Ramsay’s choice of vessel from the historic ships register – a record of boats always in need of expensive upkeep!

UK superyacht business up New research shows rising revenues and jobs growth in the British superyacht industry, a positive sign of economic recovery. Revenue in 2014/5 grew by 10.2 per cent year-on-year to £542m, the sector now employs over 4,000 full time.

Mike Carr, chairman of Superyacht UK and joint managing director of Pendennis Shipyard (above), said: “It’s been another great 12 months for the superyacht sector… We are delighted that our members are making a noticeable contribution to the UK economy.”

Omani sailor lost overboard

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Lloyd Images/Oman Sail

Oman Sail crewmember Mohammed Al Alawi was lost overboard from the MOD70 trimaran Musandam on 7 October as she was sailing just south of Pula in Croatia. The yacht, under skipper Sidney Gavignet, was on delivery from Lorient in France to Trieste in Italy for the annual Barcelona Race when Al Alawi fell overboard just before dawn.

Despite a nine-day international search by coastguards and Oman Sail, using helicopters, light aircraft and RIBs, Al Awai was not found.

Mohammed Al Alawi, 26, had been a member of the crew since the inception of the Oman Sail project in 2008. He was one of the early success stories of the project, which was designed to open up sailing opportunities in the country. He was a sailing instructor and part of the MOD70 crew when they set a new Round Ireland record last year.

“Mohammed was a cherished member of the team. He had a hugely positive approach and a passion for the sport, he was highly respected and is greatly missed,” said a spokesman for Oman Sail. “The whole team is devastated.”

New race director for Cowes Week

Mohammed Al Alawi was lost overboard from the MOD70 Musandam to the south of Pula in Croatia. A nine-day search failed to find him

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Cowes Week has a new regatta director in Phil Hagen (above), who steps into the role left by longstanding CEO Stuart Quarrie, who retired this year. Hagen, whose background is in the telecoms and software industry, has been a volunteer course setter for Cowes Week for the past 11 years and is an experienced racing sailor.

He predicts that newer-generation course setting software and tracking will produce better racing and says: “People don’t want five or six hours on a racecourse. They want three- or four-hour races that are better quality and different classes are looking for different types. So we will continue to improve and listen to competitors about what they want.”

SCHOONER METEOR In Supersail World we incorrectly captioned a photo of Meteor in St Barths. The design should have been credited to Dykstra Naval Architects.

ON THE WIND

Swan takes new direction with one-design racer n 2016 Nautor’s Swan will be 50 and the company is celebrating with one of its boldest ever developments: a feisty new 50ft one-design class designed

by Juan Kouyoumdjian.

The ClubSwan 50 is a significant departure for the Finnish yard, marking a break from the long-running collaboration with Argentinian designer German Frers, which dates back to the early 1980s.

This is a significant move from a yard that was presumed to have been concentrating on its larger yacht range.

Nautor’s Swan recently launched the first of four new 115ft superyachts, which we toured at Monaco Yacht Show (see page 70).

The ClubSwan 50 is the second new model launch to be announced in as many months following news of a new cruisingorientated Swan 54. “We decided to develop a forward-looking, young, cool product – a very simple brief we gave to a group of leading designers,” says Nautor’s group vice president Enrico Chieffi. “It was up to them if they wanted to be conservative or disruptive.”

The ClubSwan 50 has many of the hallmarks for which Kouyoumdjian is so well-known in designs from IMOCA 60s and VO70s to Rambler 88. She is a very beamy yacht (4.2m) with chines, twin rudders, a reverse sheerline and a slightly reverse bow.

She seems to strike a balance between racer-cruiser and grand prix-style racing yachts. “It will be very fast; performance is first and foremost,” says Barry Ashmore, Swan’s regional sales and marketing

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director. “We wanted a rocket boat, but one that would perform well under IRC and one that is suitable for an owner-driver.”

The square-top mainsail is sheeted right to the back of the boat and the sailplan shows a huge foretriangle, which should suit flying sails set from the fixed bowsprit (she will have a sail area of up to 296m2). The ClubSwan 50 will be built in carbon epoxy Sprint laminate to a lightweight displacement of 8.5 tonnes.

Like Wally yachts, the ClubSwan 50 will

Above : the exciting new ClubSwan 50 for Nautor’s Swan in its 50th year

Swan’s new strategy Nautor’s new designs mark only part of a branching out for the company and a wave of fresh investment. Next comes its largest yacht to date, the Swan 130. Nautor also has plans for a Swan 78 for bluewater cruising and is scaling down at the smaller end of its range, too.

“We survived a very difficult crisis of past years during which we couldn’t implement things we wanted to,” Enrico Chieffi explains. “We had to choose the most important things, which were big yachts, to make a statement.”

The 115 has proved a successful call in a 100-130ft performance sector that is thriving.

“Bigger yachts equate to a bigger margin, but you suffer from discontinuity in production. So we made some market research into smaller yachts, where Swan comes from. It soon became very clear that there is room for a top quality brand and product,” says Chieffi.

So Nautor decided to return to smaller yachts to sustain a range of work and is setting up its original inland facilities for its smaller to mid-size yacht production. It is now akin to two companies using the same technology and investment.

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

have a cruising mode too. She can be converted for weekend sailing and has two double cabins, plus galley and heads down below. On deck is a furling genoa and four of the six winches are sited around the helms.

These are electric as standard.

Don’t be fooled, though, this is a racing yacht first and foremost. The ClubSwan 50 will be a professionally managed ownerdriver class, with a global racing circuit. The aim is to have four annual events run across three continents (Europe, North America and Asia) and four fleets.

Nautor intends to have a fleet in action at the first world championships by 2018. It believes there could be as many as 20-30 built and racing by then, but possibly more.

“The base price will be €800-900,000,” says Ashmore. “It will be marketed as a package so that it won’t be necessary to optimise for racing and has some limited comfort options.”

To expand its building capacity, Nautor’s Swan is going to develop a facility alongside its lamination factory in the Finnish village of Kalby, some miles from where the larger yachts are built. The ClubSwan 50 joins a growing Swan one-design fleet that includes the Club Swan 42, Swan 45, Swan 601 and Swan 60.

“We had the opportunity with the 50th anniversary and decided to go with a very strong message that we were not celebrating the past 50 years, but looking at the next 50 in terms of vision and commitment,” says Enrico Chieffi.

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On sale 10 December

John Ridsdel (top) and Robert Hall – kidnapped

Yachtsmen taken hostage by militants Four yachtsmen attacked and taken hostage in the Philippines in September are believed to have been kidnapped for ransom by Islamist militants.

The incident happened at Ocean View Marina on Samal Island, Davao. The four yachtsmen, sailing on separate yachts, were seized at gunpoint. They were Canadian John Ridsdel, sailing a catamaran, Aziza, Robert Hall and his partner on the yacht Renova, and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad on his yacht Wiskun.

Witnesses say there were ten armed attackers,

who spread out to look for hostages on two docks. Two other cruising yachtsmen who resisted the attackers were hurt.

An 85ft yacht believed to have been used to transport them away was found nearly a week later on the island of Jolo, some 250 miles away.

Jolo is the principal base of Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for terror attacks and ransom kidnappings of foreign tourists and Christian missionaries.

On yachtingworld.com this month Matt sails with BAR

Multihulls for cruising

Matthew Sheahan has a thrilling ride on Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup boat yachtingworld.com/americas-cup

Why are multis so popular among cruising sailors these days? We find out yachtingworld.com/features

Galateia, 100ft racer

A northerly route west?

This new Wally Cento proves that interest in maxi racing is alive and well yachtingworld.com/yachts

Pros and cons of the northerly route across the Atlantic yachtingworld. com/transatlantic

VIDEOS yachtingworld.com/video

Catamaran techniques

Transat Jacques Vabre start

Chilling film of a French sailor leaping to safety with his cat yachtingworld.com/video

In Part 2 of our series Nigel Irens advises on coming alongside yachtingworld.com/video

A fleet of 42 sets off across the Atlantic in the double-handed transatlantic race to Brazil yachtingworld.com/galleries

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Man overboard!

Technology behind AIS and location beacons is changing fast, and the latest devices promise the best chance of identifying the position of a man overboard. Pip Hare guides us through the kit you need

A yacht of his own Michael Schmidt, former German Admiral’s Cup sailor and the man behind Hanse Yachts, has had an 80-footer designed and built for himself. What are his ideas of the perfect yacht? Toby Hodges reports

Multis for World Match tour The World Match Racing tour will be raced in catamarans from 2016, Matthew Sheahan sails the new M32 cat that has been chosen

Summer in Greenland Yachts are so rare here that when James Stewart and his crew arrived, the village turned out to see them. He describes a cruising area like no other

GALLERIES yachtingworld.com/galleries

Dramatic rescue

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We are getting used to seeing foils that make state-of-the-art catamarans fly, but the application of foils is much wider than this. It is shaping the latest solo round the world designs and could soon be making its way into monohulls.

Matthew Sheahan scopes out the pending revolution

Sally Golden

Getty Images

Foiling – the revolution

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LETTERS email yachting.world@timeinc.com Write to The Editor, Yachting World, The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU Letters may be edited as appropriate

the times and availability of modern materials and are very comfortable ocean cruisers for those who wish to go sailing to get away from the urban lifestyle, to commune with the ocean. Many still do.

As a postscript, it saddens me how in the last ten years fashion, styling and the demands of urban living have driven catamarans to look like multi-storey boxes with freeboards (and windage) the equivalent of a ship of the Spanish Armada.

It also saddens me that the designers of the latest stream of expensive, sleek catamarans, costing £1 million or more are again ignoring the laws of physics that dictate stability in favour of speed and prestige.

I predict a series of capsizes, the first of which has already happened.

James Wharram

Packed in the liferaft

Converting to catamarans?

With features and boat test on catamarans in your October and November issues and the ongoing Catamaran Sailing Techniques series, are we to conclude that you have all had a Damascene conversion?

I don’t remember seeing a great deal about multihulls in Yachting World before, except maybe about high-performance racing yachts.

Are you switching away from monohulls and leaving us lead-huggers behind?

Jamie Robertson Yes and no. Yes, we did perhaps have something of a ‘seeing the light’ moment, but the Yachting World team is monohull born and bred. We realise this is a growing area that we weren’t fully covering; the America’s Cup and new ranges of funky-looking cats are boosting the appeal, and while putting together the catamaran series we learned a lot about multihull sailing and can see why multihulls are on the up – Elaine

Motorhome multihulls The October issue of Yachting World was all about present day catamarans, with first of all your article entitled ‘Will your next boat be a multihull?’

I was shocked to see at the start of the

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article my designs dismissed as ‘Gone are the quirky-looking Prout and Wharram-type catamarans that dominated cruising cat design for decades.’ Maybe gone from the yachting magazine pages that are driven by the wealthy advertisers, but not from the oceans of this world.

As the article shows, the multihull market is now dominated by the luxury ‘motorhome’ catamarans designed for the big charter companies, with ever-increasing freeboards and added luxuries.

The article gives a fair assessment of these types of designs, giving their pros and cons, but it must be remembered they are all primarily designed for the charter market, NOT for bluewater ocean cruising and hence many have features that I personally would never wish to have when faced with a real ocean storm.

The catamaran, as developed from its origins of the double voyaging canoe of the Pacific, is an ideal boat for living on the ocean because of its lack of heeling, its easy motion, shallow draught, ample deck space and easy speed (so long as the hulls are kept slim!). But that is now a far cry from the modern box-like ‘motorhome’ style catamarans that the yachting public is presented with.

I would like to point out that Wharram designs, which are still based on the double canoe principles, have also developed with

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Above: love ’em or hate ’em multihulls are becoming a popular choice for cruising. Right: packing your grab bag? Don’t forget the seasickness tablets!

HAVE YOUR SAY: Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter @yachtingworld for our take on the unfolding news, and let us know your views.

In your ‘What to take in your grab bag’ feature (September issue), I would stress the seasick tablets. Rarely are we forced to leave the ship in calm waters, and seasickness is a way to lose a lot of important fluids.

A transparent plastic sheet is quite

important too: it permits you to close off the raft opening while looking outside and it can function as a solar still (which you wisely also mentioned).

Moreover, I keep a bag of hard candies; they’re highly sugary, with a very long expiry date, and need little space to stow.

Ugo, via yachtingworld.com

Man overboard beacons In your online feature on AIS and PLB man overboard devices, are you saying for an oceangoing couple (anticipating being part of a crew of four or so for ocean stretches) that, provided our own yacht has AIS

www.twitter.com/yachtingworld

www.facebook.com/ yachtingworldmagazine

Winter refit planning

Isabelle Tremblay

When your boat is out of commission during the winter, use this time to upgrade and maybe add value to it.

capability, a personal AIS is a better spend of our £200 per person than a PLB which will alert coastguards to our situation, but not help our own boat find us?

From avalanche rescue theory I’ve always worked on the theory that companion rescue was your only real hope, and that recco and helicopter mounted search gear was only for finding bodies…

Rory Johnson Yes that’s right. AIS beacons would help crew on your boat and other boats nearby to locate an MOB, whereas a PLB can only alert shore-based rescue authorities, which wouldn’t be able to help – in time – if you were to be beyond helicopter range.

If going far offshore or transoceanic, therefore, it would be the better bet for now.

However, MOB devices capable of alerting using both methods are on their way in the next couple of years, we’re told – Elaine.

Keep it simple Reading your article online on tips for crossing the Atlantic (yachtingworld. com/transatlantic) reminded me of a trip in 1989 when I crewed a 46ft boat from Southampton to Antigua.

We left Southampton in October (wrong end of the season). The Bay of Biscay was without doubt the worst stretch of the entire voyage, beating into Force 10/11 all the way down to Morocco with 30-40ft seas.

I went from never having sailed a boat in my life to rounding Cape Finisterre alone at the helm at night with shipping around in extreme gale force conditions. It was a true baptism of fire – and one of the finest, most memorable moments of my life.

Once in the tradewinds the crossing

was easy; in fact, I would almost call it boring, apart from seeing whales, dolphins, flying fish and magical phosphorescence.

After 21 days the crew began talking about hamburgers and beer.

I remember 500 miles off the coast of Africa we encountered two boats no bigger than 22ft sailing together, so it is a myth when people say you cannot cross the Atlantic in small boats. In fact, in the 1960s 25-30ft was the norm and all those boats were basic, with no watermakers, etc.

Modern boats are cluttered with so much unnecessary stuff. From my experience, keep it simple, uncluttered and, as Elaine Bunting says, maintain the momentum. Buggering around with complex sail arrangements in a squall or in the middle of the night is an annoyance.

Colin Setterfield

Above: while no ocean sailing is a doddle, it’s likely that having sailed through Biscay, the tradewinds crossing will seem a breeze

Terrier of the seas?

In the November edition of Yachting World the front cover has a photo of the Rob Humphreys 77 Ocean Phoenix. This image has caused some debate in my household – what exactly is the brown object on the port stern quarter?

The views have ranged considerably.

Some have suggested it is a newly designed MOB device, others are convinced it is a rather short person, bending over and attending to the fishing line.

I believe I can see a tail, indicating some sort of ‘Sea Terrier’.

Can anyone shed some light on this mysterious object?

John Burnie It is indeed the owner’s dog, though not a terrier – we think it’s a Spanish water dog.

A 38ft Buchanan Queen Class in Berthon’s finishing booth, awaiting her top coats

At what sort of age do boats typically undergo refits?

There is no typical age. We have a huge variety of yachts come in for refit work here for all sorts of reasons. Some classic yachts demand major overhauls; other newer yachts may just be in for pit stops following extended cruising or with new owners applying their own ideas.

What is the most common task you get asked to complete during a refit?

Is it to change an interior layout or upgrade old deck gear?

It depends on the owner’s requirements.

Most refits start with a major job list such as re-painting topsides, replacing teak decks, interior layout alterations or re-rigging. This list often grows, however, to include other less obvious requirements.

How can I be sure that my keel bolts are failsafe?

Nothing can be An interior layout guaranteed, but can be changed checking keel bolts during a refit should be part of your routine maintenance. If in doubt, keel nuts can be checked for tension, or individual keel bolts drawn for visual or NDT inspection.

More tips and advice at www.yachtingworld.com/berthon or contact Berthon’s Yacht Refit & Repair Manager, Robin Milledge, on

+44 (0)1590 647436

Time Inc (UK) Ltd reserves the right to re-use any submissions sent to the Letters column of Yachting World in any format or medium

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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LEADING EDGE

Matthew Sheahan Sailing aboard an America’s Cup boat at speed is intoxicating – if not downright alarming. Is this the future of grand-prix racing?

iding shotgun on the back of a foiling AC45f is an experience I won’t forget in a long while. It is easily in my top ten of sailing experiences.

And these are the slow boats compared with those to come.

When I wrote my online piece and edited the video after sailing with Sir Ben Ainslie and his crew aboard Land Rover BAR during a practice session at the Bermuda AC World Series event (see both at www.yachtingworld.com/aboardBAR), I was still buzzing six hours after getting off the boat. A week later little has changed.

Flying downwind at over 30 knots, closing in on competitors doing similar speeds feels more like downhill skiing or motor racing than sailing. The pace at which angles change is It’s so noisy, with the alarming, as is the thought of bearing away to duck someone’s daggerboards vibrating, the stern when you are on port and rigging humming and the already doing 18+ knots upwind. you know the apparent wind roaring past at boatInstinctively is going to take off as if someone has hit the nitrous oxide but40 knots that crews have to ton when the helmsman bears shout as if there’s a crisis away just a few degrees. This will not only increase your speed, but also the heel angle and the skittish behaviour of these cats just when you’d rather be at your most stable.

At speed aboard a foiling cat there are two lanes that feel comfortable – if you can call it that: upwind and downwind. The big sector in between is dodgy territory, which is why crews bear away so sharply simply to get through it. So ducking a stern means that helmsmen appear to hold their course longer so that the bear away is big and aggressive to keep the boat on her feet. This does little for your nerves if you’re not used to it.

The bear away at the top mark is a similar experience except this degree of sideways centrifugal force is something you simply don’t experience on a non-foiling boat. Crews call it the slingshot.

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

The idea is to bear away fast enough to get the bows through the death zone – where they will bury and potentially instigate a pitchpole – but sail the boat as flat as possible to keep all three appendages (daggerboard and two rudders) in the water throughout the manoeuvre.

This generates a great deal more power and helps the boat to accelerate quickly – not only good, but safe.

The problem is that the AC45f cats have short rudders and it doesn’t take much to lift the windward one out of the water, which then means the bow goes down and the stress levels rise.

Communication is another issue. It is so noisy with the daggerboards vibrating, the rigging humming and the apparent wind roaring past at 30-40 knots that crews have to shout as if there’s been a major crisis. You can’t hear what they are saying so any shout is a simple binary instruction that the others have to understand.

‘Made’ and ‘hold’ sound exactly the same at 30 knots, but clearly have very different implications.

As a result teams have had to work systematically on how they will communicate to avoid misunderstanding. Some of the ideas for the future that are being developed, when boats will be going considerably quicker, are highly innovative and unlike anything we have seen in sailing before. (Sorry, can’t tell you yet.)

And then there’s the level of fitness that’s required to sail them. I know we’re forever talking about athleticism on grand-prix boats, but this is a world apart from the muscle-bound grinders with their huge upper body strength. The new Cup sailors have to be Tour de France cycling fit yet able to bench press at speed all afternoon.

For the next generation of boats, teams are starting to hire athletes with no sailing track record, but who have world endurance experience, such is the demand for generating power through grinding pedestals.

But still, my one ride aboard Land Rover BAR in the heat of battle was deeply intoxicating and extremely revealing. This is the future of grand-prix racing and it’s a very different world indeed.

Twitter: @matthewsheahan

SOUNDINGS

Skip Novak The new America’s Cup show is spectacular, but I have to admit to missing some of the shenanigans of the old-style game

recently became aware of the new rules in the America’s Cup whereby the challengers are subject to fines if they publicly criticise the Cup organisation. It is US$25,000 for the first offence (small beer), $100,000 for the second (makes you think now) and $250,000 for any subsequent offence (lose your job time).

This really signals the end of the America’s Cup as we knew it – well, for those of us of a certain vintage, pre-foiling at least. I mean, lest we forget, espionage, subterfuge and at times plain mendacity resulting in vitriolic exchanges were without doubt a feature of all America’s Cups heretofore and were certainly entertaining.

We loved the tycoons and Some of those shenanigans their eccentricities. The stories inevitably led to litigation folof millions squandered to win lowed by a media storm, most of which had little to do with the a boat race. And when it went actual sailing. To be honest, this is what always interested me pear-shaped they would about the America’s Cup: how the captains of industry and filaunch the legal team nance apparently relished these battles via their floating proxies.

Voyeuristically, we loved the tycoons and their eccentricities. The stories of millions squandered to win a boat race (remember, ‘there is no 2nd’) and when things went pear-shaped or didn’t work out according to plan, they would launch the legal team to find a breach in the opposition’s defences, taking it all the way to appellate courts in New York City (surely those courts had more important things to do?)

It has always been a ‘hard ball’ game for sure. With the new format, are those tycoons now a dying breed?

I think yes, at least in the sense of supporting a Cup campaign, as sponsorship takes over those much-heralded reduced budgets. Already, one well-known yachting gentleman has thrown his baby out with the

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

bathwater because of the new regime and it is likely more might follow as the Cup moves ever closer to a one-design competition.

There is no point whinging on about this, though, as it is a simple and predictable evolution. It has happened in the Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup boats are not far behind. Pre-eminence in sailing skills will be the theme rather than a financial competition of who can hire the best hydrodynamicists and aerodynamicists – and of course the best lawyers.

In one respect it is a pity for the America’s Cup to be now so similar to most other events with that simpleto-understand formula of ‘the best sailors will win’.

So we must all sit back and enjoy the show because it is nothing short of spectacular to see. I challenge any racing sailor, male or female, not to be stimulated when these AC45 catamarans rise up erect out of the water and take off at blistering speeds, the crew helmeted and body-armoured, performing gymnastics that most of us are long since past, or never had the ability to perform in the first place.

What is lost though is that vicarious experience the average sailor could enjoy while watching the grass grow on the 12-metres’ course – and to a lesser extent on the AC 72s’ – with plenty of time to mull over the tactician’s failures and fortunes. You could actually imagine yourself on the helm or in the grinder pits.

All this was vaguely familiar to the sailing we have always known. Unless you really are a seagoing Walter Mitty, it is quite unreasonable to imagine yourself atop a foiling AC45. It is a sport in the strict physical definition of the word.

The America’s Cup today suits our time in history perfectly. Let’s face it, the appreciation of an old Turner Classic Movie with long contemplative scenes, complex dialogue and the camera resting on nothing more thought-provoking than a landscape is going by the board. Action films with scenes measured in milliseconds and YouTube clips are now where it’s at, to suit our mooted attenuating attention spans.

The America’s Cup is a perfect fit.

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LES VOILES DE ST TROPEZ

Having a blast Glamour, excitement and beautiful yachts.

The eccentric Les Voiles de St Tropez has it all, reports Elaine Bunting – except this year the sparkling Mediterranean weather

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

shot of the 15-metre Tuiga, flagship of the Monaco Yacht Club and pride of Prince Albert. Built by Fife and launched in Fairlie in 1909 she was built to the same rule as the later Fifes Mariska, The Lady Anne and Hispania

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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All photos: Gilles Martin-Raget

Spreading her wings – a superb aerial

LES VOILES DE ST TROPEZ

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f the world of yachting has a catwalk, you will find it in St Tropez in late September. It lies right outside the Café de Paris and the Hotel Sube, where you can sip a café crème or a glass of rosé and admire a rare panoply of yachts in their pomp – big Fife designs such as Tuiga or The Lady Anne, J Class yachts, Wally Yachts, TP52s, mini maxis, 12-metres and scores of venerable gaff cutters and schooners.

From the largest, the 162ft replica Herreshoff schooner Elena of London, to the smallest, a Farr 30, Les Voiles de St Tropez represents the most photogenic spectrum of yachts imaginable, in a place so imbued with glamour and celebrity that the yachts themselves are only a part of the fabric.

This year a deep low pressure swept away the autumn sunshine and with it much of the racing. Rain squalls tore over St Tropez and, beyond the breakwater, the bay roiled with breaking seas. As the classic and production yachts braced down inside the harbour, superyachts fled the anchorage in search of shelter.

For three days running the racing was cancelled while the storm blew over. When things got underway again on the final two days, it was in grey, windy, boisterous conditions that produced some truly exhilarating racing.

This year, Les Voiles de St Tropez closed its list at 300 yachts, around half of them modern and half classic yachts.

In any conditions, the range of boats racing in St Tropez is a challenge to the race committee and crews. One professional skipper described the starts as “bedlam”. The largest IRC class embraced yachts as varied in size and speed as the 172ft ketch Elfje and the two J Class yachts Ranger and Shamrock, to a CNB6 and starts led to congestion at times.

Les Voiles is famed for its ‘interspecies’ moments, exciting crosses and passing manoeuvres between crazily different yachts. It can get serious. George David’s maxi,

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Top: more from the battle of the 15s as Hispania gets the edge over The Lady Anne. Above: VO70 Lady L makes spray fly on a blast reach.

Right: a full moon over the harbour.

The same week there was a ‘red moon’ total lunar eclipse

Rambler 88 scorches past as she crosses tacks with The Lady Anne in a typical Les Voiles encounter

LES VOILES DE ST TROPEZ

Above: the crew of the Wally 105 Open Season adjust the luff tension as the giant schooner Elena passes. Right: a typical ‘interspecies’ moment between new and old, with the Wally 77 Genie of the Lamp ahead and to windward of Tuiga

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Left: Alcyon is a replica of the sandbaggers that raced in the South of France. Above:

Rambler 88, came off worse from one such incident on the first day of racing, while overhauling a smaller yacht. “We were overtaking a little boat about 20m away when it broached into us,” explained crewmember Jan Dekker. “It wasn’t that windy, but they had just tacked and they had everything sheeted in hard. When they broached, their mast hit our cap shroud, damaged the V3 above the second spreader and tore the jib.”

Rambler has ECSix carbon rigging and had to go to La Ciotat to get the broken fibres laminated before returning to finish the regatta. In the offshore race later in the week, raced in 20 knots of wind and driving rain, Rambler sprinted round Cape Camarat to complete the 27-mile course in under two hours. She finished over five minutes ahead of Mike Slade’s 100ft Leopard.

Wind, rain and rough seas amplify everything, from placing marks – the Gulf of St Tropez is up to 600m deep in places – to course setting for the classics. Many of the older yachts find rough conditions particularly bruising; racing can be very unkind to them. But it is thrilling to see these classic yachts fully canvassed and going through seas like leaping salmon. However, the conditions did for the event’s oldest yacht, Marigold, the Charles Nicholson gaff cutter from 1892, which fell victim to a broken spinnaker pole and top mast.

Les Voiles prides itself on its friendly challenges between crews, and even within classes and rating bands particular rivalries are played out. Some 15 Wallys this year made up the largest number ever to race together. For some the regatta may be a bit of fun, but for the Wallys this is serious, and the fleet brims with professional sailing’s big game, including ex-America’s Cup and Volvo sailors Tom Whidden, Brad Butterworth and Ian Walker.

The question this year was whether the Wally Cento Magic Carpet 3 could hold off Open Season, formerly Charles Dunstone’s Hamilton, modified – Wally termed it ‘reloaded’ – last winter with a deeper keel and extended with a new stern to 107ft. The answer was yes, until Magic Carpet’s solent halyard broke in the coastal race, forcing retirement and handing the overall win to Wally 94 Magic Blue.

dropping the gennaker on the Wally 105 Kenora

Although in a bigger IRC class, the two J Class crews naturally had their eyes on each other – Ranger, the heavier, more powerful steel-hulled J won the duel with Shamrock.

On board were skipper-helm Erle Williams, tactician Murray Jones and navigator Mike Quilter.

This race marked the final ever grand-prix racing appearance for New Zealander Quilter, 62, who has decided to retire. His illustrious career has spanned six America’s Cup campaigns and five Whitbread/Volvo round the world races and he ended it in traditional fashion, swimming fully clothed after being thrown into the harbour.

Quilter, alias ‘Lowie’, or ‘Low Life’, has been navigating on Ranger for a decade and in a tribute to his role Erle Williams remarked: “He’s been just great. In my eyes he is always my first pick, he has been a joy to sail with and it’s a sad time for us. But it is his decision. He is only giving up navigating; we’d have him back as a sailor anytime!”

A sopping wet Quilter commented: “It feels like the right time. There is no fool like an old fool. And I want to stop before I become an old fool.”

Another photogenic group battle was played out between the four Fife 15-metres Hispania, Mariska, The Lady Anne and Tuiga. Further needle matches went on between the 12-metres and the 8-metres and some very close racing between 23 Tofinou dayboats and one-design Code 0s.

Les Voiles is the last regatta of the Mediterranean season and its grand finale. If the harbour and the anchorage could possibly shoehorn in more, others would dearly love to come. But it can’t, and around 100 skippers on the waiting list were disappointed this year.

Its charms go well beyond the racing, with jazz bands, a fancy dress parade, a boules competition in the Place des Lices. Perhaps uniquely among major sporting events it also has a high-minded ethos of commercial detachment: sponsored boats are barred and even the event’s own commercial partners, heavyweights such as Rolex and BMW, have to remain discreetly in the background.

Les Voiles de St Tropez is its own brand: eccentric, YW rich, flamboyant.

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SEAMANSHIP

1,500 miles to go with no rudder When the rudder of his 39-footer broke in mid-Atlantic Patrick Marshall set up a jury rig, with the support and advice of a radio net, and sailed 1,500 miles to the Caribbean

L

ike most dinghy sailors, I used to have fun sailing my boat without a rudder. I learned a lot about the optimum set of the sails, heel and fore and aft trim in order to keep a straight course. Doing it for real in a 39ft yacht weighing 9 tons in midAtlantic at night with a Force 7 blowing was a different matter.

Amanda and I left Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands at 1500 on Tuesday 6 December 2011 on our Sweden Yachts 390 Egret. We shot through the acceleration zone between São Vicente and Santo Antão in 30 knots of wind, and continued 50 miles south to avoid the islands’ huge wind shadow before turning west.

By midday the next morning we were heading direct for Barbados, 1,950 nautical miles away, with full main and the cruising chute set under a blue sky with just a few puffy clouds. That evening, while swapping the chute for a poledout genoa, a large pod of dolphins came alongside and started performing antics for our entertainment.

As usual, we took part in the evening Magellan Net over the SSB radio. This informal ‘sked’ was hosted by Fatty Goodlander, an entertaining US yachting writer whom we’d first met in Lanzarote and who was crossing the Atlantic in Wild Card on the final leg of a circumnavigation.

Any boat could report their position and talk about the important matters of the day, such as the quantity and size of fish caught or the sighting of whales. The morning net was more formal, with a roll call of all boats at sea, each giving their position, course, distance to go and wind and sea state. We were in contact with about 25 boats strung out across the Atlantic, with a few more already in the Caribbean and a dozen still in the Canaries or Cape Verdes.

On the fourth day, with freshening winds, we decided it was time to try our new tradewind rig: the genoa poled out on one side and a long-footed staysail poled

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Above: with barely a stump of the rudder left, Patrick Marshall and his wife experimented with a combinations to keep Egret on course

Helen Nicholls

drogue and different sail

SEAMANSHIP out the other. We were delighted to find that the arrangement worked perfectly and Egret flew down the rhumbline, rock steady, at about seven knots. That evening we celebrated 1,500 miles to go to Barbados.

The joy of surfing down waves under a full moon ended abruptly with a metallic grating noise from below and the flogging of sails above as Egret lurched and careered off course. We thought at first that the autopilot had malfunctioned, but we couldn’t get her back under control so we hurriedly furled the sails and lay ahull to assess the situation.

Our next theory was that the linkage between the rudder shaft and wheel had failed, but when the emergency tiller fitted to the top of the shaft couldn’t steer either, we knew the problem was below the waterline.

The rudder’s gone!

Concerned that the force required to break the rudder could also have damaged the hull, we checked the bilge for water and inspected the area where the shaft penetrates the hull and were relieved to find nothing untoward.

By now it was daybreak, so we decided to have breakfast and a rest until 0900, when we would be able to report our predicament to the Magellan Net. At the start of the net the

Mary Anne II stayed in close proximity for the next 48 hours as winds continued unabated at 24 to 30 knots with confused 4m waves. We had been heading west-north-west, but the GRIB files suggested the weather would be kinder further south, so on the second morning we succeeded, at the third attempt, in gybing and heading south-south-west.

Sweden Yachts ride well to the seas, the cockpit was almost dry and the motion down below quite reasonable, so we were content to sit it out and rest until conditions improved. We were more concerned about Mary Anne II, especially as John had told us that green seas were regularly sweeping her decks and they had to keep changing between sailing and heaving to, to keep down to our speed.

Eventually we persuaded him that it would be safe for them to leave us and continue on their way.

We had some good news after further examining the steering system when we detected a small amount of feel through the wheel. This could only mean that there was still a piece of the rudder intact, which would greatly assist steering once the weather calmed down.

Sweden Yachts rudders are supported by two ball-bearing races inside the hull and an external bronze shoe about a fifth of the way down the blade. The stainless steel shaft and tangs embedded into the glassfibre moulding are massively strong above the shoe, but somewhat less so below, designed so that the rudder would snap off under impact without damaging the housing or hull above – a not infrequent cause of total loss by sinking. It was reassuring to learn that the mode of failure had been exactly as designed.

During the next morning net, Peter of Norna told us that he had consulted ‘Herb’ – the legendary Atlantic weather forecaster – and received the advice that we should head south, a huge relief and confirmation of our tactics. Several boats astern asked if we needed anything, so we asked for more diesel, just in case we had to do a lot of motoring later.

First Awaroa kindly diverted to pass close by us, then Tsolo, but in both cases we had to abort a transfer owing to the conditions. By the sixth morning, wind and sea had eased sufficiently for us to set two small headsails poledout and, at long last, we were able to point the bows directly at the Caribbean, 1,200 miles away.

The next problem was to get Egret to sail downwind as opposed to her natural tendency to round up controller called for priority traffic. I piped up with the problem of our lost rudder. The response from other crews was encouraging, and the consensus was that we should deploy a drogue astern to steer the boat. Fatty immediately came up with detailed instructions on how to improvise one. We were asked to radio in every two hours.

Adapting their ideas to suit what we had on board, we made a drogue comprising an 8m rope bridle attached to the stern mooring cleats, followed in succession by a 12m warp, 4m of chain, our Bruce kedge anchor with a fender attached, a 4m warp, a fender, another 4m warp and fender, 4m of chain and a final fender. The total length of the drogue would have been about 32m.

Two 25m lines were shackled to the first chain and led to port and starboard through snatch blocks at the midships mooring cleats, then back to cockpit winches. These could be adjusted to maintain a straight course, and also, by pulling hard on one or the other, to tack or gybe.

The next problem was to get Egret to sail downwind as opposed to her natural tendency to round up. The best she would do with a small headsail set was to sail on a beam reach, but eventually we got her to bear away to about 120° off the wind by setting a staysail to leeward and a small area of genoa hauled out to windward. We knew then that we would be able to get more or less where we wanted – eventually.

The wind and sea had been building all day, making work on deck quite demanding, but we had everything under control by the time we reported in to the evening net. John of Mary Anne II announced that they were sailing towards us to assist if required. Exhaustion helped us to sleep tolerably well during our off watches that night, and it was a huge relief to see a sail appear over the horizon early next morning.

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Back on course The wind was seldom dead astern, but we found that with a staysail poled-out to leeward and the genoa to windward we could sail comfortably with the wind about 20° on the quarter. We switched between the storm jib and regular staysail depending on wind and sea conditions.

With the drogue adjusted to balance the rig, the autopilot kept us more or less on course once we had adjusted its gain to maximum. The constant whirring of motor and gears as the wheel was spun from lock to lock would impose a great deal of wear and use a lot of juice, and we could only hope that it kept working.

Every now and then the pilot lost control with a fit of beeps, which sometimes we could recover with a sharp tug on one of the steering lines, but often the boat would round up broadside onto the wind and we’d have to back one of the headsails to turn her round again.

THE DROGUE SET-UP

Steering line

Fenders Chain

Steering line

Anchor

Rope

Chain

Rope bridle

Used for the drogue 3x 13m x 18mm dia warps 2x 5m x 14mm warp 2x 25m x 12mm steering lines (actually, our spinnaker sheets) 2x 4m lengths anchor chain 1x 15kg Bruce anchor 2x blocks (lashed to midships cleats for steering lines)

Jean Ward

4x fenders

Left: the drogue trailing astern. Above: a visit from Santa (alias Alan from Tuatara) with two drums of diesel and some goodies

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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SEAMANSHIP We could maintain control better by hand steering as well as increase the speed by half a knot, but we didn’t have the energy to keep at it for long.

Our request for extra diesel hadn’t been forgotten, with the result that Father Christmas arrived a week early, wakeboarding in an inflatable dinghy on the end of a long line behind the Kiwi yacht Tuatara. On the first reasonably calm day since the incident, Santa – alias Alan – with considerable skill and lots of energetic rowing, manoeuvred himself alongside Egret and heaved over two drums of diesel and a sack of goodies, including a freshly baked loaf of bread, some chocolate cake and a Christmas card.

Over halfway Declining to stay for a cup of tea, he nevertheless managed to get a glimpse of what remained of our rudder before being hauled back on board his mothership by Jean and Juan.

We were overwhelmed by their generosity. The next day we celebrated 1,000 miles to go: over halfway.

Soon after losing the rudder we had begun to make contact with family members, Falmouth Coastguard and our

at the leash of the long drogue astern, which was slowing her by about two knots. The arrangement seemed to work well and was self-compensating; in light winds the fenders bobbed along above the water providing little resistance, but as the wind rose they sank lower, providing more drag.

With continual tweaking of the myriad of ropes controlling the sails, we were regularly able to clock daily runs of over 90 miles.

The weather was quite unsettled with a succession of depressions to the north upsetting the regular pattern of the tradewinds. We tended to change down to the storm staysail before dusk, but on one particularly squally night we had to take down the poles and revert to our old arrangement of storm staysail with backed genoa.

The early hours of Christmas morning were magical: the first time during the whole crossing when it was completely cloud-free and I felt inclined to study the night sky. The sea was its calmest ever, the breeze a steady Force 3. The moon had set just seven minutes after the sun and wouldn’t rise again until 40 minutes after sunrise, so it was very dark, providing a brilliant stellar display.

As I sat back sipping a mug of freshly brewed coffee and munching a slice of the gorgeous Christmas cake made for us by Amanda’s mother, a shooting star illuminated the eastern sky for a few moments with its glittering trail.

Sunrise heralded a perfect day with just a few white clouds in the brilliant blue sky. The morning radio net brought Christmas greetings from boats at sea and at anchor. The gentle breeze allowed us to hoist our big downwind staysail and to unroll the genoa completely – the first time since breaking the rudder.

We opened our presents and added the labels and cards to the decorations we’d bought in the Canaries. In the evening we pulled our crackers then dined well, starting with confit du canard served with croquette potatoes, ceps and haricots verts, followed by Christmas pudding, cooked in the pressure cooker, with brandy butter and cream.

Egret was perpetually straining at the leash of the long drogue astern, but the arrangement seemed to work well insurance company to set about working out options for the repair of the rudder. Andy of Spruce, at anchor in Grenada, initiated research via the Coconut Telegraph into recommended repair locations.

Our destination had originally been Barbados, but after weighing up such factors as ease of approach from seaward, the suitability of shoreside facilities and the availability of skilled tradesmen, we plumped instead for Saint Lucia.

Clive, the owner of the Sweden Yachts 38 Cosmic Dancer, was already there having just finished the ARC, and he did a great deal of leg-work talking to the boatyard manager and lining up a surveyor. Mark of Macushla, moored at Las Palmas, managed to get a structural drawing of the rudder from SweTHE AUTHOR den Yachts, and started discussions with them.

The news of our plight seemed to be spreading wider and wider, and it was often hard to know how to deal with offers of help from unknown, but well intentioned peoPatrick Marshall started cruising with his ple. For a while I was spending most parents and team racing at Southampton of my night watches at the computUniversity. He first made his mark on the er receiving, reading and sending National Solo open meeting circuit. emails, somewhat to the detriment After joining Hayling Island Sailing of sailing the boat, keeping a good Club, he switched to the International 10m2 look-out or simply resting.

Canoe and won two National Fortunately the flow of inforChampionships and a bronze in the Worlds. mation eventually subsided, and He campaigned a Bull 7000 in the we thank everyone who gave us Solent then restored an Aphrodite 101. He the benefit of their time and expeand his wife Amanda bought their current rience, and also Sailmail for allowSweden 390 to extend their cruising. ing us so much free extra airtime.

Egret was perpetually straining

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Succession of squalls A rain shower at 2330 forewarned the end of Christmas day, and by 0300 we were on deck wrestling down the staysail and hoisting the storm jib. A succession of squalls passed over, and the seas started to build.

On Boxing Day, with less than 400 miles to go, we began to dare to make predictions about our arrival. New Year’s Eve seemed achievable, but the forecast predicted an increase in wind to 20-25 knots that day, which would probably mean gusts over 30 knots and big seas. To help plan our approach we experimented to see in what directions we could sail Egret and how she handled under power.

The gap between Saint Lucia and Martinique is about 17 miles, which is plenty wide enough in normal circumstances, but after many days so far from land it seemed to us rather narrow, particularly with steering being so iffy. We certainly didn’t want to end our voyage on a lee shore.

For several days we had been taking every opportunity to climb to the north of the rhumbline so that we would be directly upwind of the mid-point during our final approach.

We were trying to time our arrival at this waypoint to a couple of hours after sunrise, when, as well as daylight, there would be a west-going tide and current to sweep us through.

Once downwind of the islands, we were fairly confident that we could broad reach across to Rodney Bay. The boatyard had promised to have a suitable boat on standby to tow us into the marina, and Jo and Arny from Just Jane said they would come out in their dinghy to assist.

Approaching land On the afternoon of the 29th, with the seas building and the sky looking threatening, we made the decision to stow the spinnaker poles and staysail and make the final approach with a small amount of genoa assisted by the engine. We knew by now that the usual laws of sailing no longer applied, and that Egret would go best downwind with the genoa sheeted in hard rather than eased.

The wind and seas continued to increase through the night, with the biggest gust at 38 knots. We reduced our watches to two hours, spending most of that time perched in the companionway, ready to winch in one or other of the steering lines to bring Egret back on course should a big gust send her careering off towards either island.

We arrived at our waypoint an hour early, but the lights from Martinique had been visible for some time. We were surprised to hear Egret’s name being called over the VHF; it was the Martinique branch of the French Coastguard saying that they had been tracking us on behalf of Falmouth Coastguard, and asking us to report back to them on arrival. It was comforting to know that they were keeping an eye on us.

We altered course to the south and as the day brightened the peaks of Saint Lucia became more defined under the stormy sky. The familiar voice of Jo suddenly came over the radio to give us encouragement for the final few miles. The boatyard manager was ready to send out a launch to tow us in.

The seas remained very steep until we rounded Pigeon Island into the shelter of Rodney Bay. Jo and Arny greeted us with a bag of fresh bread and fruit, then helped us to recover the drogue and take our tow line across to Lucky Strike, which towed us to our berth in the marina. What a welcome end to 26 eventful days across 2,200 miles of ocean – YW and just in time to celebrate New Year!

POSTSCRIPT: Our insurers’ surveyor, after examining the fracture, agreed that we must have collided with something substantial – maybe a semi-submerged shipping container.

We could probably have had a rudder made locally incorporating the remains of the old shaft, but for the long term we really wanted a new one built to the builder’s original specifications.

Fortunately, Sweden Yachts still had the drawings and moulds and were willing to make a replacement. Our insurers agreed that this would be the best course of action, but the downside was that it would be eight weeks before the new rudder reached Saint Lucia and then it would still have to be fitted and antifouled before we could get sailing again.

It was air-freighted to us and, like all the best presents, was packed in a large, heavy and beautifully made box. The rudder was perfect and slotted straight into position. On Tuesday 10 April, four months after breaking our rudder, we checked out of Customs to continue our cruise.

Above: Egret hauled out in Saint Lucia, showing where the rudder had broken off just below the hull. We started negotiating early with Sweden Yachts for a new rudder

Left: the new rudder arrives in a beautifully made box and was fitted and antifouled before Egret went back into the water to continue cruising

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS Q

Try to be part of an SSB radio net for

Q

Q

Q

be fitted as early as possible.

Make sure that you take adequate rest periods once you have the situation

Q

under control.

experiment with different sail plans and sailing at various angles to the

late doesn’t matter as long as you

wind in order to help you deal with situations later on.

Remember that the rudder provides

Q

Notify Falmouth Coastguard as soon as

part of the lateral resistance of the hull,

possible, who will take regular position

so once it is missing, the boat will be

reports from you and pass them on to the local services.

very unbalanced. We doubted that any sort of steering oar or vane gear rudder Q

When conditions are suitable,

Be patient, and accept that arriving reach a safe harbour eventually.

Q

Start working out how to obtain a replacement rudder and where it could

both moral and practical support.

Q

Be careful not to seek the assistance of

would have been effective.

too many people who might overload

Have an understanding of the

your capacity to receive emails.

construction of your rudder and its

(Sailmail did allow us extra airtime free

likely mode of failure.

of charge on request).

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

37

TABLETS

See our online guide to tablets and apps at yachtingworld.com/ipad

How are sailors using their iPads and tablets on n board? Matthew Sheahan talks to cruising sailors, racers and industry professionals

A

Tor Johnson

s iPads and other tablets become a part of the arsenal of electronics on board, their versatility, from slave displays and back-up navigation to streaming movies and storing photos, makes them invaluable for a great many sailors.

And as apps proliferate and prices of tablets have fallen, the scope is widening. In this feature we look at the best ways of making a tablet work for you at sea.

Low-cost, portable navigation is one of the prime reasons to own a tablet. One of the most popular navigation apps is Navionics’ chart plotting app. Originally produced for the iPad, this app has been instrumental in convincing us there is another, simpler and often more

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Many sailors now are using their tablets for navigation

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

39

TABLETS

See our online guide to tablets and apps at yachtingworld.com/ipad

Aboard the Gifford

Which tablet?

family’s yacht Totem, they use iPads for a range of tasks

Yachting World contributor Henry Bomby considers the alternatives to the iPad IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS the iPad and other tablet devices have had a huge impact on both cruising and racing sailors. For me the most exciting changes are coming with the announcement of the iPad Pro and products such as the Windows Surface tablet.

Apple is behind the game on this one, but I suspect it won’t be long until the power of Apple makes a product that sells better than the Windows device.

The two devices are essentially full-blown computers in tablet form. Everything you can do on a desktop is at your disposal on a handheld touchscreen device.

Why is that important to us sailors?

At the moment we use tablets as either a standalone chart plotter, using apps and tools that are not very powerful when you compare them with dedicated programs such as Adrena, Expedition or MaxSea, or we use tablets to repeat a standalone computer down below running these types of programs in the dry and connected to all the instruments.

So is splashing out on an iPad for your boat really worth it, especially as cheaper Android devices are readily available with seemingly the same functionality? You can buy a Hudl2, for example, from Tesco for £99, the same

OvitalMap

WeatherTrack

PredictWind

convenient way to use electronics at sea – hardly surprising when you consider the wide coverage and quality of charts available, often for under £30 a region.

There are other vector and raster chart alternatives – for a full review of these, see our online guide at yachtingworld.com/ipad.

But where is the tablet revolution going? How are people using them and which are the most popular apps? To find out we talked to a selection of people, from bluewater cruisers to offshore solo racers and industry professionals, to get an idea of how tablets are being used afloat.

This is not a comprehensive study of all the apps and tablets available, but a snapshot of the marine scene today gleaned from the experience of those out on the water.

Although Apple still have the greatest range of apps in the wider world ashore, the market for marine software and the way you might use it is starting to change so we also look at which tablet to choose (see panel above).

A world cruising tool Living Earth

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Behan Gifford and her family are cruising round the world, and use their iPads for all kinds of purposes. ‘For navigation we use iNavx (with Navionics charts). This isn’t our primary navigation system; we rely first on OpenCPN, with CM93

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

charts, running on a computer down below. But iNavx is more than just a nice back-up.

‘Sometimes we’d rather have eyes on the charts from the cockpit, instead of ducking below decks. Other times we’ll find discrepancies in the charts: having two sources is handy; one is not consistently better than the other.

‘For example, we routinely had very, very different-looking interpretations of the same area in Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. Google Earth was sometimes too fuzzy in those areas to be a useful supplement. ‘iNavx connects to the NMEA 2000 network on board, the better to display AIS data and uses our ship’s GPS and weather station data. Google Earth has been extremely valuable for us for atoll navigation this year, and often had more useful navigation data than what was on our charts.

Scoping out an anchorage ‘For real-time navigation I prefer to overlay it in OpenCPN, but the app is still useful to scope out anchorage or snorkelling spots or watch our live progress through an atoll pass.

‘We don’t have OvitalMap yet, but this is top of my list of apps to try, thanks to a tip from Tucker of Convivia. Tucker sets up a route in iNavx – you could use anything that exports a GPX file – exports the .gpx to OvitalMap, then asks

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ways to use a tablet afloat

Our experts’ choices. Not all are apps; some are programs run on a computer or instruments that can be viewed on a tablet

NAVIGATION iNavx Versatile app for reading raster and vector charts. Can overlay GRIB files. £39.99 Navionics Market leader navigation app, easy to use routes and quick. From £15 Left: iPad Air 2,

Open CPN A full-featured chart plotter and navigator application. £7.74

£399. Right: Hudl2 £99

price as a Lifeproof waterproof case for the iPad Air 2.

In the past, I would have recommended that the iPad

Ovital Map Cross-platform map browser supporting offline views of Google Map, satellite map and terrain map. Free Squid PC software to download and view GRIB files. Free

The Hudl2 also comes with GPS built in, which can be enabled by downloading its own GPS Status software. This

was the only way to go. It had the most and best apps for

is an advantage over the iPad where you have to purchase

sailing and the budget tablets didn’t offer the processing

the cellular version to use the GPS ‘offshore’ or out of 3G

speed and power. But I believe that is changing now.

range. With Bluetooth GPS devices costing close to £100

MaxSea TimeZero Entry-level version of one of the best-established navigation software packages for PC. £397

anyway, cheap Android devices seem to be the way to go.

Pros of the Hudl

I think if my tablet broke tomorrow, I wouldn’t be

The Hudl2 has an 8.3in full HD screen which is great for

splashing out on an iPad again. The Android store has all

charting programs. And with a resolution of 1920x1200 it

the apps you need now and while the integrity of

AdrenaFirst Cruising navigation software for PC. €465.85 (£338) ex VAT

WEATHER

actually has a higher pixel per inch (273ppi) than the iPad

waterproof cases is the biggest potential weakness, the

PredictWind Combines sophisticated wind/ weather prediction technology with local topography maps for hi-res forecast. £19/yr

Air 2, although admittedly on a smaller screen.

Hudl2, for example, is designed as a cheap tablet for kids

WeatherTrack Weather app for iPad. $9.99

with a case that is splash- and shockproof.

PocketGrib Weather data app including wind, precipitation, pressure, temperature, waves, etc, from GRIB files. £4.49

The Hudl2 doesn’t have the same processing power as the latest iPad or iPad Air 2; however, offering 2GB of RAM

It would be great if a company like Lifeproof made a

and a 1.8GHz processor, it has more power than an iPad 2,

case for the Hudl2, but at the moment you would have to

which is what I currently use and I definitely don’t feel

make do with one of the less convenient waterproof

I need to upgrade for speed. So no problems there.

Google Earth Widely used by cruisers. Free Meteo Consult Independent supplier of weather forecasts for Apple products. Free

bag-type devices from companies such as Overboard.

Navtex Marine Weather Android app for weather info. Free Navtex Pad As above for iPad. £2,29

the app to grab every satellite image along that route at a specified range of zoom level. The app then caches these sat images so you can refer to them offline later.

‘This is huge. The process to get Google Earth views into KAP files we can overlay on OpenCPN is ridiculously timeconsuming. It requires a solid (and affordable) internet connection for an extended time. OvitalMap is a game changer, because it takes those hours (or days) of effort and turns it into a push-button activity. I see “inadequately surveyed” or even just “unsurveyed” on a number of spots in our African destinations coming up, so this will be a big help.

‘We use our laptop for weather info far more than we use our iPad, because the PC connects to our offshore communications tools (HF and Iridium GO!) and because it offers more user control to analyse and interpret information.

‘But sometimes a tablet is handy and for some people a tablet is their onboard computer. You’ll more often find us using PredictWind’s Offshore program on our laptop for serious weather watch or route planning.

‘A tip from Tucker on Convivia is WeatherTrack, which uses your route data and then helps you anticipate conditions forecast for your timing along the planned path. He finds it so useful for reading GRIBs that he goes through the hassle of getting his (HF-delivered) GRIBs to the iPad. We

Wind Guru Wind, wave and weather data.

Free, but subscribe for better resolution XC Weather Formerly an app, now a mobile service online www.xcweather.com. Free

GENERAL Marine Traffic & Vessel Finder AIS Live vessel-tracking service. Free Drag Queen Simple anchor alarm provides distance and GPS accuracy. Free Star Walk Stargazing app for mobile device including extensive info on stars. £2.29 Sky View Another sky gazing app for iPhone and iPad. Free iTranslate Translation app for over 90 languages for iPhone and iPad. Free North Sails Scan Assess the shape of your sails compared with optimal shape. Free

Behan Gifford and her husband, Jamie, along with their three children, have

Secchi Disk Android mobile interface to global study of phytoplankton in ocean. Free

been cruising their Stevens 47 Totem

MerlinBird ID iPhone/iPad/Android app for bird identification. Free

since 2008. Since first using a tablet on board in mid 2012, the family has found

See & ID Dolphins & Whales Identify and learn about dolphins, whales, seals and manatees. Free

them invaluable for a range of tasks.

In her blog www.sailingtotem.com she describes some of the most useful apps based on their own experience and

Fish Planet Encyclopedia of 550 major species of fish. Android app. Free

those of more than 30 other sailors

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

41

TABLETS

See our online guide to tablets and apps at yachtingworld.com/ipad

effectively get the same information with the routeing functionality in PredictWind via our Iridium GO! device.

‘In addition, we get information about current, which is a major factor in any significant ocean passage and has been invaluable for passages like those we’ve had across the Indian Ocean this year.

‘Other popular weather watch tools used by cruising mates such as Kim on Britican include PocketGrib, which reads GRIB files you can have sent through saildocs – something we’d probably do on PC, but devices are nice.

LivingEarth, which can be found at earth.nullschool.net, takes the prize for visually stunning display of weather information, but those gorgeous graphics come at a data cost, so we haven’t used it. www.sailingtotem.com

Apps across the Atlantic

Navionics

Wind Guru

Fish Planet

MerlinBirdID

Daria and Alex Blackwell use apps on a Samsung smartphone instead of a tablet and comment: ‘The first, and most important use is as back-up for navigation (I have the Navionics app) and for route planning.

The Navionics app has the same data in it as the full chart plotter. It is brilliant. We use it for pocket navigation around Clew Bay in the west of Ireland and it’s great, even for regions as remote as ours. Integral GPS makes it more powerful than our first chart plotters ever were.

‘I also have Google Earth and can check satellite images when necessary – like searching for dinghy landing sites.

Most of this, of course, works only in sight of a mobile transmitting tower.

‘I also use it a lot for tides and weather. I have Passage Weather, Meteo Consult Marine, Navtex, Marine Weather and WindGuru loaded, and I have UK Tides and Tides Near Me. I also have Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder, which are time-delayed, but give me back-up AIS readings, which include ID of coastal lighthouse stations; in Ireland they all have AIS transponders now.

‘I tried apps like Drag Queen, but I hate to leave the device on all night and our new anchors work so well we no longer worry as much. I’ve just installed Star Walk and Sky View, which are great fun.

‘I haven’t done Celestial yet as we have no reason to use the sextant these days. I would buy it if we were to sail off across oceans again. Google Maps is great for finding things on shore, iTranslate and Google Translate are useful when sailing into foreign waters.

‘I use Secchi Disk and Merlin Bird ID to help with citizen science projects. See & ID Dolphins and Whales from NOAA is good, as is Fish Planet for identifying the catch of the day.’

Your tablet as a repeater Marine IT expert Gavin Painter on apps to link to your computer Although apps are a popular way of running programs on a tablet, on board wi-fi routers and communication apps are now creating a link between the boat’s instruments, and/or a computer down below. This means your tablet can be used as a repeater or slave drive which opens up a range of new possibilities.

“When the big electronics manufacturers such as Raymarine, Garmin and B&G revealed their apps to create a link between their instruments and your tablet, the market for marine apps changed overnight,” says Gavin Painter. “Being able to stream instrument data off the boat’s electronic network to drive applications onto a tablet not only means that you may require fewer instrument repeaters, but also often the quality of your data is better.”

Painter, whose company IT@C specialises in supplying and installing systems aboard bluewater cruisers,

Remote Desk

sees the advantage to sailors, however, as being even more fundamental.

“The GPS fix alone is likely to be better using the boat’s GPS rather than one in the tablet. The battery life of the tablet will then be better plus it then isn’t necessary to have a cellular-enabled tablet, bringing the price right down.”

But even if you don’t have instruments with wi-fi capability, it is still possible to beam the data wirelessly through the boat using an NMEA to wi-fi adaptor. This takes in the data from your instrument bus on one side and broadcasts it over wi-fi on the other.

Interestingly, despite being one of the biggest-selling navigational apps it is only recently that Navionics has enabled its app to receive wireless NMEA data, albeit just GPS and depth. But this provides an affordable (£99) solution for those simply looking to get the boat’s GPS data onto a cheap, non-cellular enabled tablet using Digital Yacht’s Sonar Server.

The device was developed to provide data for Navionics SonarCharts ‘Live’ technology which helps to redraw the sea bed.

This it still does, but with the Splashtop

added benefit of providing a basic wireless data service.

For a unit that provides a more complete data stream, as well as allowing some areas to be driven from the tablet, look at Digital Yacht’s WLN10HS (£300).

Daria Blackwell and her husband Alex have cruised their Bowman 57 ketch Aleria around and across the Atlantic and are based in Westport, Ireland.

Blackwell is the PR officer for the Ocean Cruising Club and was appointed chairman of the digital communications and publicity and PR subcommittees in 2014. She doesn’t have an iPad, but uses a Samsung Android smartphone, which she says is big enough to see a great deal of detail.

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But for some, linking an iPad to the onboard computer or laptop running Windows applications is the issue, rather than connecting to the boat’s instrument system. In this case, a simple free app such as Remote Desktop – RDP Lite, or Splashtop could be the answer. Installing these apps allows the iPad to run as a wi-fi-driven slave screen to the computer below decks.

“Even on big bluewater cruisers we are now seeing owners deciding to go for a tablet rather than big repeater displays,” says Painter, “for the ease with which it can now display information.”

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TABLETS

See our online guide to tablets and apps at yachtingworld.com/ipad

Racing focus

Left: Wind Guru for weather on

Their main focus may be solo racing, but these two Artemis Challenge skippers have spent many hours trawling through the best apps and weather services available to find out which provides the most effective service whether you are racing or cruising.

board. Below: MaxSea TimeZero for navigation

Alan Roberts FOR WEATHER I USE WIND GURU quite a lot for a very basic idea and I also use XC Weather, but mainly I’ll take a GRIB file using a program called Squid. That is a really cool program and is free to download.

For the average sailor it is useful because you can do your routeing in it and you can superimpose competing models – it is really worth getting and I highly recommend it. You can integrate it with Google Earth, so you can look at shorelines and other key features.

For my navigation software I use AdrenaFirst and, as a back-up on my iPad, I have Navionics. They are a very different. The iPad is really a back-up and doesn’t allow me to get AIS, but the charts are quite clear and Navionics works well as a second opinion, but my primary reference is to Adrena.

There are a lot of apps out there – I use the North Sails Scan App, which allows you to take pictures looking up the sail and you can record, for a given sail, sail section or camber, what happens to the sail in different settings and what you are achieving in terms of trim. It also allows you to log the hours you use for a sail and so on.

But with all these things I usually end up making my own programs that suit my own layout and what I am trying to achieve. Primarily I use the boat computer all the time, but with the iPad I run a screen-sharing capability on board using a local network. So I relay to the iPad, which is great when I am sitting at the helm where I can look at it.

Sam Matson FOR NAVIGATION, ALONGSIDE ADRENA, I use the MaxSea TimeZero package which is very similar to Adrena – a few of the French Figaro sailors actually use it as primary source on the boat.

I’ve got it on my iPad as well, which provides me with another chart base. It has all the raster navigational charts (direct copies of an existing paper chart) for MaxSea and all the CMAP charts for Adrena and it is always useful to compare the two.

It is certainly a handy app to have on your iPad. It is quite expensive, but it is another back-up source and different from the Adrena information I am getting. You can never have too much information.

The best thing I put on my boat this year is something called a Weatherinfobox, also known as the WIBE. That provides me with synoptic data and downloads charts to my computer. That’s really handy – it gives me all the Navtex information and the synoptic charts. It works off long wave frequency, so it’s the equivalent of having a long wave radio on the boat. I think fishermen use it offshore.

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With weather sites, it really depends where you are sailing and what is best for that area. When I go to a new area I will spend a couple of days searching online, just looking for the best weather sites for that area.

I use an iPad and I have an option to link that to my screen down below. The coolest thing at the moment – which some Figaro boats are using – is to run a wireless transmission of all your NMEA data. It takes all the instrument data, feeds it into a wireless router which can then be picked up on a smartphone or an iPad and it will act as another display on the boat.

So for people who have limited displays or a limited number of displays, by fitting a wireless transmitter and then downloading the right app – whether Raymarine, nke or B&G – the instrument data can appear on your iPad or smartphone. It can be any data the boat is picking up – GPS data, wind data, boat speed, etc.

And don’t forget that a digital subscription to Yachting World is the best way to keep up to date with news and features when you’re on the move. See our special offers at yachtingworld.com/digital

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CRUISING

Prepared for the ocean Meteorologist, navigator and ARC safety inspector Chris Tibbs and his wife, Helen, are going round the world, starting with the ARC. He describes how he prepared his yacht

W

hen we bought our Wauquiez Centurion 40s, Taistealai, for extended cruising, starting with the ARC this year, we had a number of criteria in mind, but first and foremost we wanted a boat that would be manageable by two. Nothing too big or heavy, yet substantial enough to cross oceans reasonably quickly and be fun to sail.

Most importantly, our budget had to leave enough over to prepare her properly. After a couple of demo sails we ruled out roller reefing mainsails. Maybe it’s my racing background or the design of yacht we tried, but we found the performance disappointing and the reduced size of mainsail seemed small for the boat.

There were compromises we were prepared to make, but we did try to adhere to the principles of keeping it simple,

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manageable and repairable in the middle of nowhere or be prepared to do without.

I had been advised that it’s best to leave a considerable part of the budget for a refit; this is probably a bigger chunk than you might initially think, so these were wise words.

Make your estimate and double it would be my advice!

Also increase the time you think it will take to do the refit as jobs are often more difficult than expected largely owing to the restricted space.

Checking the bottom Your yacht has to take you safely for many thousands of miles through mixed weather conditions and one of the most important aspects is keeping the water on the outside.

Steering gear and stern glands can cause difficulties and need to be checked.

Aboard Taistealai instead of a stern gland we have a

All photos: Paul Wyeth

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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CRUISING

Prepare for offshore sailing – see yachtingworld.com/transatlantic

saildrive unit and our manual tells us that every seven years the rubber seal needs to be replaced. You may be told that these rubber seals last a lot longer than this, and there will be boats sailing around with seals two and three times the recommended age, but I didn’t want to take any chances – I thought we would look very silly sitting around in a liferaft because we had not changed it.

However, this was a much bigger job than I had anticipated, involving the engine having to be split from the drive and moved forward. Although I will tackle most things on a yacht, this was a time to call in the experts.

It made sense to do it during the winter refit we planned while the boat was on the hard as it avoided an additional lift. The cost was fierce, but we feel much happier now it is done.

The next job was checking the rudder bearings and keel. Both got a clean bill of health from the surveyor, but after the report into the loss of the yacht Cheeki Rafiki last year we had another good look.

Our seacocks were also checked and the seawater inlet one replaced on the leg of the saildrive.

Some yachts look like a colander under water, they have so many seacocks. One thing I like about Taistealai is that we only have a few. Although a saltwater pump in the galley is a great water-saving device, we considered a new hole in the hull for it too high a price to pay, particularly as we had fitted a watermaker and carry plenty of buckets.

In addition to the main seal on the saildrive, there is an

Some yachts look like a colander underwater, they have so many seacocks. Our Taistealai only has a few

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Above: Taistealai is a

outer rubber that is stuck to the hull, or should be. After the ena manageable boat for two gineers replaced the main seal they stuck it up with contact adhesive, only for it to drop off almost immediately. The next time the boat was out the water I used a marine sealer/adhesive and filled and faired around the edges.

So far it is OK and I will keep my fingers crossed for next time we check – hopefully in the warmer waters of the Canary Islands.

While changing the anodes, I got plenty of spares for the next couple of years as the size and type may not be readily available in the Caribbean. We also noted the type of antifouling and checked that the Canary Islands, where the boat will next be lifted and scrubbed before the ARC, do keep the same make and type of antifouling.

Of course, we are not racing, but when long-distance cruising marine growth and a badly prepared bottom can easily cost a quarter to half a knot or more – say ten miles a day, which would mean an extra day or more for a transatlantic crossing. And although I love being at sea, I also like sailing quickly and I think we all like to try to beat similar boats on passage.

Wauquiez Centurion 40s,

Sails and rigging The next major items to be tackled were the rigging and sails. Ask different riggers or insurance companies how often you need to change your standing rigging and you will get answers varying from around seven years for rod and ten for 1x19 wire.

Our insurers were not insisting, but they did strongly suggest we changed our nine-year-old rigging as a precaution as it would be a lot cheaper to replace it in the

Chris Tibbs has raced round the world three times, the last as skipper of Concert in the BT Global Challenge. After taking a Master’s degree in applied meteorology and a spell at the Met OfďŹ ce, Tibbs became a full-time meteorologist working within the sailing community. He has helped many racing teams and is the author of the RYA Weather Handbook. He has been an ARC safety inspector and he and his wife Helen are joining the next rally in November.

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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Prepare for offshore sailing – see yachtingworld.com/transatlantic

UK than it would if we were to lose Right: our sail plan is simple and designed to our mast in the Pacific. be easy to handle, They had a point, although the though we do carry biggest saving would surely have downwind sails for been to them. However, it was lighter weather something we had discussed and budgeted for. We wanted a known rigger (to us) to do this work so we went to Jerry the Rigger in Gosport. I have known him for a long time and he knows a lot about long-distance cruising yachts, having worked with the ARC for a number of years.

Changing the rigging also forced us to do something that racing crews do often and cruising crews rarely, that is, to pull the rig – take the mast out and give it a good inspection. When buying a second-hand boat there is usually a caveat on the survey that tells you that the surveyor has done little more than look at the mast through binoculars. We had no idea how the mast had been used and abused or when it was last properly lifted and checked.

So although it was a large expenditure we now have a well-checked mast with new rigging wire and, importantly, I now have a much better idea about how it is all put together and where any problems might develop in the future.

We picked up a few points, one of which was the rings through which the spinnaker halyards are led: these were incredibly small so were replaced by stand-up blocks.

On the gooseneck there were insufficient washers to pack it out, causing wear. It was the exactly same case with the vang fitting.

Then we had a new set of steering cables made up, a strop for padlocking the dinghy when going ashore and a repair kit should a wire or stud fail; all small but necessary items.

While measuring the steering cables we completely checked and serviced the system. So with a serviced hull, stern gear, engine and mast, the basics are fine. The boat is ready for sea, but not in any way luxurious.

I am often surprised at how often I see engines and generators being serviced in Las Palmas before the start of the ARC, but how little activity I see checking the rig, sails, or servicing winches – maybe they have all been recently done, but I doubt it.

Sail choice is a huge subject. We bought a boat with a good sail inventory, but we still added to it as sails are our driving f o r c e . I h ave q u i t e strong opinions on sail plan. Ours includes a 110 per cent high-clew headsail to allow good visibility forward and it sets nicely poled-out.

We also have a removable inner forestay for a heavy weather jib and storm jib, along with three reefs in the main.

I do not like trysails as when it is windy enough to need one on a cruising yacht I do not want my crew having to work on the coachroof to set it. Unless you have a second mast track, trying to set a trysail in a track in 40-plus knots is difficult and dangerous. A good third reef will reduce the sail to a manageable size in a reasonably easy manner.

Changing the rigging forced us to do something that racing crews do often and cruising ones rarely – that is to pull the rig

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When I was a skipper in the BT Global Challenge round the world race, the only time we used the trysail was when doing running repairs to the main, not when beating in 80 knots in the Southern Ocean – although at 80 knots we did heave-to for a while.

Although our standard sail plan aboard Taistealai is small with the 110 per cent jib, we do carry sails for light winds as well, but more of this in a later article.

The comfort factor Once happy with the basics we looked at what will make us more comfortable and safe. Fundamental to a pleasant crossing, I believe, is sufficient power. On my first transatlantic in 1980 we were short of battery capacity and even resorted to removing the light bulb from the heads. We had oil cabin lights, which does give an easy light that doesn’t destroy night vision, and instruments were limited.

Some 35 years later, the choices are different. I changed all our bulbs to LED and added alternative methods of generating power. Power generation does depend on what you are planning to do with the boat next. We need something for on passage, but also for when we are at anchor in some idyllic harbour when running an engine just so I can have a cold beer is not acceptable.

We had already added a couple of solar panels as in the UK we keep Taistealai on a river mooring and these keep the batteries nicely topped up. For the Atlantic crossing we wanted a hydrogenerator, and Watt&Sea seems to be the market leader for small, efficient units.

In the past I have used a towed generator, which was like a large Walker log. At times it worked OK, but when the seas were rough it tended to jump out of the waves and get into a

Above: we changed all wire rigging and terrible muddle. But the latest hydrofridge so we can open it on starboard thoroughly checked the mast. We have generators have had positive reports. tack and endless plastic boxes to try to solar panels to keep batteries topped up Not cheap, but neither is a tank of diesel. keep the boat organised.

However, when at anchor in the One addition worth mentioning was tradewind belt, a wind generator is very useful, if not a nethe installation of a gas solenoid so we can turn the gas off cessity. We fitted the latest Rutland generator as it is powerfrom below. That allows us to get into the routine of switchful and quiet – and so far it is living up to expectations. The ing it off immediately after use. argument against wind generators has always been that on Doing it yourself a tradewind passage the apparent wind is too light to run Most of the preparation of Taistealai was done by me and them. However, at anchor in the trades it is another matter.

Helen, with professionals brought in when necessary. Part If you don’t have to charge batteries via the engine or a of this was a down to budget, but also a big consideration diesel generator, the length of time between filling up with was that if something goes wrong mid-passage the only diesel will be longer and our cruising range should be inperson who can fix it is you. If you have fitted and serviced it creased. But apart from that, it seems such a waste of eneryourself then the chance of being able to repair it is greater. gy to run a large diesel engine (in our case 56hp) to charge This is just a snapshot of some of the preparations we batteries. Because we have alternative charging systems we have made and why we have made them. The list goes on have kept a relatively small engine alternator. and in subsequent articles I will look in greater detail at We also took the decision to add a watermaker. It had to safety gear and liferafts as well as other preparations. be physically compact, as space is seriously limited, and it I think the most important thing of all is time on the waneeded to run off 12V and be easily installed. I have been ter; it is only when living and sailing on a yacht that you used to bigger systems running on 240V or a high-pressure find out what is good and what does not work so well, pump off the engine, neither of which was suitable. The latwhether this is adding extra stowage pockets or changing a est generation of watermakers can be run off 12V using an lead to reduce chafe. energy-reclaiming system.

Our plan is to arrive early in the Canary Islands well beAfter much discussion we chose a Schenker Smart 30 fore the start of the ARC on 22 November to avoid bad from Mactra. The published figures are 30lt per hour (alweather, finish the jobs list and fly home for a couple of though 27 is closer to the truth) and the draw nine amps. weeks then return to provision and leave.

This was about the most efficient we could find and 27lt/hr In reality, the remainder of the jobs list will be thrown should be more than sufficient. away two days before the start – if it has not been important There has been a long list of small jobs to make life more enough to do by then, it’s not that important and it comfortable and safer. We added shelves to cupboards with YW will be time to go sailing! fiddles to stop them emptying themselves, baskets to the

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CRUISING UPGRADES

21

best upgrades for ocean cruising

Rupert Holmes looks at ways to make life on board more comfortable for those planning to venture off to warmer climes If you’re considering sailing to warmer waters, whether the Mediterranean, Caribbean or further afield, but are worried that life on board will be more akin to camping than the comfort you’re accustomed to at home you are unlikely to be alone.

However, there are many ways in which an existing vessel can be adapted to offer many of the comforts and conveniences we take for granted in our daily lives.

1

Digital Yacht iNAVHub Price £360

This is essentially a router that creates a password-protected wi-fi network on board your boat. The data connection can be from a satellite phone, 4G mobile connection, or a wi-fi extender that amplifies the signal for a longer range.

As well as connecting smartphones, tablets, Macs and PCs, the network can also share a boat’s instrument data. digitalyacht.co.uk

2

Mailasail Red Box Price £450

This compact unit is also designed to provide a wireless network to share the incoming data stream, whether from wi-fi, satellite or mobile phone network. For connection to the internet it’s said to

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support a wider range of devices, including nearly every satellite phone, 3G/4G cellular phone and long-range wi-fi booster solutions.

On board it’s compatible with any wireless devices or computer, without downloading additional software or apps, and can also share data from charting and instrument networks. mailasail.com

3

Yacht Router Mini £1,300

This is a higher-priced product that combines several functions within a single unit. As well as providing an onboard wireless network, it incorporates a highpower wi-fi booster, said to be capable of a 15-mile range, plus a 2G/3G/4G modem. It’s also compatible with Iridium, Inmarsat and VSAT satellite networks. yachtrouter.com

Photos: Tor Johnson

Keeping in touch

4

Aqua Ultimate Superyacht 4G wi-fi VSAT MIMO

Price: £3,534

Costs increase dramatically if you want more bandwidth and faster data transmission. This system, from Aquamare, combines a long-range wi-fi booster with twin 4G modems and a VSAT broadband satellite connection, yet the antenna measures just 140x60mm and can be roof-, bracket- or pole-mounted. aquamare.co.uk

Keeping moving

5

Bow, stern and jet thrusters Price guide: from £2,000 plus fitting

Although many yachts now have bow thrusters, if you struggle in tight spaces it might be worth considering adding a stern thruster to make manoeuvring in a strange port even easier.

An interesting alternative that came to the market five years ago is the jet thruster produced by Holland Marine Parts. Instead of an impeller near the end of the boat this pushes a small jet of water out of a nozzle in the appropriate direction and is starting to gain traction in the mainstream market. For instance, the new Dufour 460 has a jet thruster installed.

Advantages are that you don’t need a large tunnel for a bow thruster’s impeller – the water exits through a 50mm diameter nozzle that can be positioned on the waterline close to the bow or stern. In addition, there’s less chance of flotsam in the water being dragged into the impeller and there are no shear pins that will leave you without thrust if they break.

Prices for a jet thruster are roughly between that of a tunnel thruster and a retractable model. Price guide, bow only: £5,000, combi bow and stern: £7,300.

Installation of a bow jet thruster typically takes two people one day, while a combination bow and stern system may need three or four days of labour. hollandmarineparts.nl/jetthruster

6

Consider a jet thruster for efficient manoeuvring. Below: Lewmar powered winch

It’s also worth considering whether a model with a warping drum would be useful – a powered winch on the foredeck can be invaluable in harbour in gale-force conditions and warping drums certainly come into their own for use with lazy lines when moored stern-to Mediterranean-style.

A chain counter is also a valuable addition, taking the guesswork out of laying sufficient scope and for optimum control when retrieving the anchor – well worth spending around £150 on. allows a line to be tensioned – or eased – at the touch of a button. Prices range from £3,240 for the smallest (size 40) to £8,500 for the largest (size 65). http://lewmar.com An alternative is the new range of four-speed Pontos winches. These are offered in two versions, which either double line speeds, or halve the effort needed to grind in a line. At around one-third the cost of electric winches (just over £1,000 for size 40 models), these could be a viable alternative. http://pontoswinches.co.uk

Power winches Guide prices £2,600 to £9,000/winch

A boat that requires extreme physical effort to sail is no fun, especially if sailing short-handed. It’s therefore worth analysing the deck layout to see if there are easy ways to reduce friction.

Typical problems include ageing equipment with sheaves that don’t run freely and lines that are forced to turn through unnecessarily large angles. In many cases it’s possible to reduce friction by 50 per cent or more, which will instantly translate into easier handling.

However, it’s also worth considering powered winches – being able to hoist and reef the main, and sheet the headsail home, all at the touch of a button, can significantly reduce the demands on a small crew.

Lewmar’s new Revo line of five electric winches goes one stage further in having a superyacht-style backwinding function that

7

Better windlass Price guide: £1,500

Windlasses tend to spend much of their lives coated in salt spray, yet are all too often neglected until you start spending most nights at anchor. Clearly that’s not the time to discover your windlass is not working properly, or is marginally sized.

8

Efficient propeller Price guide: £2,500-4,000

It’s also worth looking at your propeller. Feathering three- or four-bladed props tend to be much more efficient in reverse than a fixed-blade model, which means the boat gathers steerage way more easily, with less prop walk. As a result, the handling of boats with a shaft-driven prop located near the rudder can be transformed.

A type with auto-adjusting pitch, such as the Brunton Autoprop, will reduce fuel consumption when motoring in relatively calm conditions. While this clearly offers the possibility of long-term cost savings, the biggest advantage for long-distance sailors is that range under power is extended without any need to increase tankage. bruntons-propellers.com Another option is the Gori Overdrive prop, the blades of which can be set while underway to different pitches. A coarse pitch can be selected for motoring or motorsailing in fair conditions. This will maintain cruising speed at lower revs, representing a significant saving in fuel consumption, as well as reducing noise and vibration. sillette.co.uk The finer pitch setting is used for motoring into a head sea, when the maximum power of the engine needs to be transmitted to the prop.

See also darglow.co.uk

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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Six ideas about dinghies Marina facilities around the world have improved enormously over the past few decades, but there are still plenty of locations in which a decent dinghy is as much of a vital workhorse as the family car.

Even if your plan is to use it solely with an outboard, it should be possible to row it efficiently. Flat-bottomed inflatables fall down in this respect – an inflatable keep, or rigid hull structure makes rowing much easier, as does a pair of long (7ft minimum) oars.

Keep it light There’s much to be said for choosing the lightest feasible tender for easier handling and stowage.

As well as facilitating hauling it on board, a lightweight dinghy can be carried to safety well up a beach, without damaging the bottom and can be powered by a smaller engine.

Anything over around 2.8m is likely to suffice as a decent workhorse, provided the tubes are of sufficient diameter – aim for a minimum of 45cm.

Air floor types offer a great compromise between good performance on the water, weight and easy stowage, although they can’t match the handling of a proper RIB-style tender.

If it has to be a RIB, make it aluminium…

Price guide: £2,500 If you really want a RIB, it’s worth finding one that’s relatively light. Those with an aluminium hull will take much more of a battering than one with a glassfibre bottom, and are likely to be lighter as well. Ribeye’s TS350 model, for instance, weighs just 58kg, but will take five people, and the TL310 also takes five people, but weighs only 43kg. ribeye.co.uk

…or folding Price guide: £2,200 to £3,300 Another interesting option is the F-Rib series of folding RIBs. These range from 2.75-4.6m, with weights from 36-72kg. Unlike a conventional RIB they can be rolled up and stored in a locker when at sea. http://foldablerib.com

Take a spare If you have space it’s worth considering taking a second dinghy – in many ways this is akin to having two cars, allowing different groups of crew to come and go to their own schedules.

A second tender will also enable you to continue cruising without undue interruption should the main one be lost or stolen – the more remote the destinations you plan to visit, the more this makes sense.

An aluminiumhulled RIB like this from Ribeye makes sense

Dinghies and outboards

9

Stowing the dinghy Price guide: £600-£6,000+

Opinion is often sharply divided over the use of davits. The advantages are obvious – quick stowage of the tender without having to remove the engine, fuel tanks and so on. On the downside, however, there’s more weight placed at the very aft end of the yacht as well as a risk of the dinghy being vulnerable to big waves.

A simpler alternative is to use a halyard to lift the boat vertically onto the foredeck.

Normally this is a two-person operation, with one grinding the winch, while the other guides the boat, holding it off the hull.

It’s also possible to combine both approaches – stowing the dinghy on the foredeck for long passages, but using davits for shorter sails in good weather.

If so, it’s worth considering a removable and folding type that can be easily stowed when not in use. Carbon fibre davits look great and can weigh less than half a comparable metal model. However, the total saving may still be as little as 20kg. http://atlascarbonproducts.com

Above: many boats clearly do use davits happily while cruising. Left: Torqeedo electric outboard

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10

Engine cranes

11

Alternative outboards

Price guide: from £300

Even with relatively small engines on a folding or all-inflatable tender, a crane to lift the engine on board is an important investment. It’s all too easy to fall into the water when transferring the motor, even on boats with a good bathing platform.

Similarly, if the engine is removed from a dinghy stowed on davits before a passage there’s less weight at the back of the yacht and the strain on the system is reduced.

Carrying petrol for an outboard can be a pain – it’s therefore worth considering an electric outboard. These are neat and convenient, with better inherent reliability than petrol versions and have reduced servicing requirements. For instance, a Torqeedo Travel 1003 gives thrust equivalent to a 4hp conventional outboard and yet weighs 13.4kg, including an integral battery large enough to power the boat for three hours at half throttle.

While the up-front cost of £1,449 is more expensive, if your yacht has ample power generation inputs, you can in effect fuel the outboard for no extra cost. torqeedo.com A propane outboard may also be worth considering, if you have suitable stowage space for the fuel. These can be powered from refillable containers, as you would for cooking gas, or by standard 16.4oz (465g) disposable camping bottles. The latter gives around 80 minutes of running at two-thirds throttle on the 5hp motor.

This model also weighs in at only 21.8kg – around 20 per cent less than many four-stroke petrol motors of this size. On the other hand, at £1,150 the up-front price is around 15 per cent higher than a conventional motor. lehruk.com

CRUISING UPGRADES

7 easy ways to improve comfort on board

12

Unlimited power Price guides: solar £200-£500 per 100W; hydrogenerator £2,000-£3,300; wind

generator £1,400-£2,300; fuel cell £2,000-£5,000

Life on board can be transformed if you never have to worry about the amount of electrical power you consume. Much has changed in this respect over the past decade.

Many of today’s appliances, including LED lighting, iPads and tablets, and lowenergy TV screens draw far less current than their forebears. The cost of solar power has dropped significantly at the same time as efficiencies have improved, and efficient hydrogenerators that are easy to deploy have also been developed.

For yachts that don’t want to install a 240V generator, fuel cells may be a viable way to top up batteries on an occasional basis. For more on this subject see the June 2015 issue or our feature online.

Daily power outputs can vary considerably, but rough rule of thumb figures give the following averages: Solar: 25ah/day for each 100W of panel Hydrogenerator: 150-200ah/day at six knots average boat speed Wind turbine (90cm diameter): 100ah/day Fuel cell: 100-150ah/day

13

Ample fresh water

14

Dump the bottled water

Price guide: £5,700 to £7,700

Recent developments have made low-voltage watermakers increasingly viable, with 30lt/hr models, such as the Tecnicomar Oasi 30 from Aquamare Marine, consuming as little as 13 amps at 12V and weighing just 20kg. aquamare.co.uk Yachting World’s ARC Survey consistently shows that fitting a foot pump, along with a saltwater pump at the galley, is invaluable for ocean crossings.

Price guide: £250 to £400

Over the course of a few months even a small crew can get through an enormous amount of bottled water. Even disregarding environmental considerations, this can be an absolute pain to stow as well as presenting a logistical problem to lug it on board in the first place.

However, for a modest cost you can fit an ultra-fine water filter that will remove all bacteria and viruses from tanked water. The key to this is a filter of less than 0.4 micron size, such as the Seagull IV X1F and Nature Pure Ultrafine models from General Ecology. purewateronline.co.uk/ These work with standard onboard water pressure and can be configured to filter all tanked water, or can be plumbed into a separate faucet so that only drinking water is filtered, which will extend each cartridge’s 3-3,800lt lifespan.

They can also be used for the supply to an icemaker. Replacement cartridges range from £77 to £99.

Dockside Prefilter from General Ecology

Life on board can be transformed if you never have to worry about the electrical power you consume

15

Ventilation: improve airflow below Windscoop: approx £50-70

Don’t wait until you’re baking under a relentless sun before considering how to improve life below decks. The most important single thing is to ensure there’s a good flow of air through the boat.

This is relatively easy to achieve if you’re at anchor, when a simple windscoop or two will do the trick, as the boat will tend to be head to wind most of the time.

But it can be difficult to promote a good airflow in quarter cabins and aft cabins. It helps if the hatches are hinged on the aft edge, but decent fans may still be needed to supplement the airflow.

Don’t stint on the quality – only the best combine a decent throughput with the kind of quiet, vibration-free running essential to prevent the fan disturbing your sleep.

The Caframo Ultimate 757 is a favourite of many long-term cruisers thanks to its high flow rate, low power consumption and quiet running. Significantly, the blades have shock-absorbing leading edges, which mean a safety cage is not essential in most installations, which markedly improves the fan’s efficiency. caframolifestyle solutions.com

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CRUISING UPGRADES

Prep offshorare for e sailin g V

yachtin isit gw transatorld.com/ lantic

Great galley upgrades

19

Discovery Yachts use pocket-sprung mattresses for extra comfort

16

A proper mattress Price guide: £600-£2,000 (king-size double berth)

There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be as comfortable in bed afloat as you are at home. There are a number of companies that offer pocket-sprung mattresses custom-built to fit the unusual shape of yacht berths and can incorporate soft, medium or firm springs, or a split mattress.

To prevent mouldy bedding it’s essential to add ventilation matting beneath the mattresses to cut down on condensation.

The industry standard is a mesh anticondensation layer of around 1cm which provides for ample airflow, as well as keeping the mattress above any condensation that does form: £30 per bunk.

17

Cleaning made easy Price guide: £160-£400

No one wants to spend any more of their time afloat than is absolutely essential engaged in domestic chores.

Dometic’s new central vacuum system is one way to ensure floors and upholstery can be quickly cleaned at the touch of a button.

It’s a high-suction, compact unit that can be easily installed in a locker, and the 12m hose allows it to reach anywhere on the boat.

Dometic’s central vacuum system is a great way to clean the boat, but it uses a lot of power

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The biggest drawback is that this is a high-power unit drawing 950W at mains voltages. This is unlikely to pose a problem for larger yachts with a generator, but it may rule out its use on smaller vessels. The price is around £400. dometic.co.uk A lower-cost and lower-power alternative is the Dyson DC34 handheld cordless. This consumes 65W and weighs 1.3kg, yet packs a lot more power than typical cordless models. Expect to pay £150. dyson.co.uk

18

Air conditioning

Replace the cooker Price guide: £2,100 to £4,000

GN Espace (gn-espace.com) has developed a range of marine cookers that address typical problems.

All have a full-width grill and an oven with two or three-level cooking. The company also takes care to insulate ovens to the highest levels. This saves gas – by up to 50 per cent – while reducing the heat transmitted to the rest of the boat.

Hobs range from a standard two-burner unit up to a large fiveburner model that includes one that’s sufficiently powerful to use a wok. ➤ Another option is to get rid of the gas system entirely and convert to electric.

Induction types are more efficient, so will draw a little less power and will contribute far less to creating unwanted cabin heat than gas cookers.

Price guide: from £2,000 to £4,000 per unit

Not so long ago this was solely the preserve of the biggest yachts, but the introduction of compact standalone units makes it viable for smaller vessels.

Granted, to use it while at anchor you’d also need to run a generator all the time, but the biggest benefit of aircon is when you’re in a marina berth with shore power.

As well as the boat not lying head to wind in a berth, as you’re closer to shore the wind strength is likely to be diminished and temperatures will be higher at night – three reasons why aircon can be a boon.

The smallest unit we’ve found is the 3,500 BTU/hr (equivalent 1kW) Compact 3.5 Quattro model from Climma Marine Air Conditioning, but models go up to 17,000 BTU/hr. http://penguinfrigo.co.uk More than one can be fitted to create a simple air conditioning system – the Gunboat 66 Tiger Lily has two of Dometic’s 16,000 BTU/hr Vector Turbo units to cool her bridgedeck saloon, plus further 8,000 BTU/hr units for each stateroom.

It’s worth noting, if you’re also planning to spend time in cooler waters, these systems can also be used for (electric) heating of the vessel. dometic.co.uk

20

Organise the space

21

Improve refrigeration

Price guide: £1,000 to £2,000

This is an area that’s all too frequently compromised in the typical yacht galley – however, it’s also one that GN-Espace has addressed.

For example, the Gastronorm sinks use ideas from professional catering to create an efficient multifunction food preparation and washing up area.

Price guide: £1,000 to £15,000+

Key considerations include excellent insulation – the thicker the better – and a location for the compressor that provides adequate ventilation. It’s also worth considering water-cooling systems, which reduce the coolant temperatures and therefore significantly reduce power consumption. ➤ A new small top loading fridge can be bought for well under £1,000. Water cooling systems start for less than £400 for the Frigoboat Keel Cooler. http://penguinfrigo.co.uk

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GREAT SEAMANSHIP BEWARE THE ‘INCIDENT PIT’

BLOKES UP NORTH

by Kev Oliver and Tony Lancashire

Introduced by Tom Cunliffe

Two Royal Marines decide to attempt part of the North West Passage in a 17ft open boat. In this extract they face their first real test as they realise their beat into rising wind and seas is going nowhere and they have to turn round and head back

lokes up North, beautifully published by Lodestar, is one of the best £12 I have spent in recent years. It is written jointly by two Royal Marines who decide, in the best traditions of the Corps, to take a look at the North West Passage in a tiny open boat.

Arctic Mariner is a 17ft 6in Norseboat, 5ft in beam and a mere 9in draught with her centreboard up. She sails well with a fully battened gaff rig and a single oarsman can drive her at over three knots. Remarkably easy on the eye, she remains inevitably vulnerable in the sort of conditions encountered by Kev Oliver (right in photo above) and Tony Lancashire.

The pair have known each other for many years but, as Marines accustomed to the results of stress, they discuss how they will continue their good relationship under the pressures of what must come.

B

One agreed maxim is that, should a difference of opinion arise, they will choose the safer option without further argument. The book shows this to be a lesson many of us could learn, remembering always that these are real men of action, not the sort of people to hide under the duvet when bogeymen enter the bedroom.

Accepting from the outset that, for various reasons, the full North West Passage is not going to be a possibility in their tiny craft, they begin their west-east trip at the end of the last road north on the McKenzie River Delta at Inuvik. They then negotiate the Passage through broken ice and bears, even man-hauling the boat across the pack, to reach their goal at Resolute north-west of Baffin Island six weeks later.

We join them at the outset of their first major test, a mere 150 miles into the voyage, where discretion turns out to be the better part of valour.

Blokes Up North was published by Lodestar Books in 2014, price £12 http://lodestar books.com

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GREAT SEAMANSHIP

The day had started well, but with the shifting wind had come a short, steep swell that built rapidly, making helming hairy, but exhilarating. After a long spell on the helm I felt I had the measure of the conditions and could read the next wave.

It had taken me hours to build this sense of affinity with the conditions and I found myself strangely reluctant to cede the helm to Kev, comparing his handling of the boat, having just come on watch, with mine having got used to the conditions. – Tony.

Kev: We had ten miles to go, but in the heavy wind and steep seas our tacking angle was so poor that it would take us about five to six hours. It was going to be a long night, but it wasn’t lonely. Tony is good company and although we weren’t talking much, at least he was there. But we did seem exposed, the wind howling, the grey, cold sea crashing, in the odd light that passes for night at these latitudes in the summer.

We didn’t yet fear for our lives, but if we had been in this position 30 or 40 years ago we probably would have. Capsizing back then would have meant very little chance of survival. If our boat went over we might not be able to right her, but we at least had a liferaft with a waterproof grab bag containing a satellite phone, GPS and our EPIRBs. Rescue would involve helicopters flown by cargo plane from south-eastern Canada or maybe a diverted icebreaker and there would certainly be a few people saying “I told you so,” but it stood a reasonable chance of being successful.

Just after midnight, and having eaten some chocolate and nuts, I finally persuaded Tony to take a break from the helm. We hadn’t had a hot drink in eight hours and of course couldn’t cook hot food in the well of the cockpit which was awash with icy seawater.

I settled myself into the helming, trying to pinch against the wind. We had no way of knowing if a current was pushing us back as well, but it was clear after a tack that with the wind now at about 25 knots and, the waves having built, we were making almost no progress. GPS showed us sailing back down the same track. We had no idea how long this wind would last and if it would increase still further. We knew we were on the limit.

At 0300 with just five miles to our destination and nearly 30 to run back, it became increasingly obvious to our tired brains that we were not going to make any further progress and reluctantly made the call to turn around. We knew as soon as we did things would seem better, but running is far from easy in these conditions. The boat wallows with the waves, and too much sail is more likely to overpower the boat and capsize her.

Preparing ourselves to change course needed careful planning.

As ever, Tony talked through it. “We’ll run on foresail alone, so I’ll drop the mainsail. I’ll need to get sail ties round it all and then secure it in the centre of the boat.”

“I’ll go head to wind, release the main a bit and feather us just with the foresail,” I replied.

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As the mainsail came down the wind caught the peak and main halyards, and started whipping them up. I looked up beyond where Tony was struggling with the sail. In a mass of dark cloud, spray and flapping rigging I watched helplessly as the loops in the halyards became longer than they should feasibly be. With a sickening feeling I realised there could be only one explanation. The drag of the howling wind had pulled both lines free of their cleats.

I shouted over the roaring wind at Tony, “We’ve lost the f***** lines,” and pointed at the mast. Tony looked up, and while the black and red main halyard remained flapping just above his head, we both watched as the peak halyard unravelled, slowly at first up to the masthead, then accelerating as the weight of line pulling down overmatched that left hanging in free space. It flicked out of its pulley and into the water, trailing forlornly behind us.

Neither of us blamed the other for the lack of stopper knots that would have prevented this. Even if we felt like it – and I didn’t at the time – there was no point. We had to deal with the situation as we found it. Tony finished lashing the mainsail and I steered us round onto what was clearly a highly unstable run. Tony gathered in the now useless peak halyard. “We’ve got to take the mast down to refix that,” he said ruefully. “Still, we should be able to run back under foresail alone so we won’t need it.”

We both eyed the flailing main halyard, and decided to try to get it. Tony lowered the canvas canopy so he could stand in the boat and, harnessed with our special long line, he ventured onto the deck sides, using the sail for balance. I tried to steer as flat as possible, but at the same time trying to use the wind and the pendulum motion of the swinging line to meet with his hands.

The first few attempts were futile, but faced with little alternative we persevered. It was dangerous work, but we accepted that if Tony went in the water I should be able to get him back in on the harness line. Eventually he grasped the halyard just above his head, and I watched as he ran it back through the cleat by the mast and then deliberately tied an extra-large stopper knot in its end. I still have no idea why that line hadn’t run all the way through as the other had done.

Tony: Sailing in these seas without a main should be fine as long as we ran downwind, but our options were narrowing and I distinctly sensed the maw of what sailors and climbers call the ‘incident pit’ (a potentially fatal accumulation of seemingly minor problems) a little too close for comfort.

We were tired, cold and wet, without a mainsail and with nothing but 50 miles of freezing water between us and the polar ice edge. We had to be careful we didn’t turn a mishap into a disaster.

Above: the 17ft 6in Arctic Mariner hauled up onto the ice. In this picture you can see the peak and main halyards referred to

Left: safely beached with camp fire blazing and the short Arctic night falling

Above: Tony at the helm in drysuit and gloves to keep out the elements.

Left: encounter with one of the natives

Kev: We decided we had to break the chain of events that had left us almost 30 miles from land in a Force 6-7 and 9ft breaking waves, not having eaten for 12 hours, or slept for 18. We were screaming along under a handkerchief of foresail, making six knots.

We checked the GPS, and our track over the last hour since we had turned round was taking us north of our outward route. Rechecking the chart, we realised I had entered the return waypoint incorrectly, and that had set us onto a more northerly route.

By now I was struggling, under foresail alone, to hold the course we required to get back to Cape Dalhousie. The further we went off course, the greater the angle we needed on the wind to get back. We tried to hoist a bit of mainsail, but without the gaff lifted above the horizontal, the ‘gooseneck’ that slid the gaff up and down the mast just jammed.

This was getting serious. The wind must have shifted to come from the south straight out of Liverpool Bay, and we couldn’t steer on either tack for either of the landfalls, Cape Dalhousie or Cape Bathurst. Under foresail alone we could only make a course slightly downwind, which involved going further offshore. We had to get the mainsail up to seek shelter on land.

Rather than focus on all the hindsights of the day, we concentrated on the problem at hand. Looking at the top of the gaff I suddenly had an idea. If we could fix the gaff hoist to the main hoist, at such an angle that would relieve the pressure on the gooseneck it would allow us to hoist the mainsail.

Tony took over helming and this time I stood on the gunwale with one arm round the mast. I was clipped on and I don’t remember feeling any fear, just an intense focus on the sea, the moving boat and the flailing lines. As he kept control of the main halyard I used a carabiner to clip together a loop of rope in the main halyard to a loop of rope in the currently useless gaff hoist. This meant that the curved wooden gaff was held at its midway angle to the mast more or less as I had imagined. The angle was far from ideal but I was far from keen on redoing it.

Tony pulled on the halyard and I wriggled the gooseneck up out of my reach to where the mast narrowed marginally and then I

pushed up the rings that held the sail to the mast. After several attempts we had a mainsail.

While it was enormously satisfying to feel the change in the boat as we could now head directly for our safe haven, we weren’t out of the woods with land still 20 miles away. The seas were showing no sign of abating and I lost count of the number of times we pumped out the boat with the built-in hand bilge pump.

Tony slept for a bit in his drysuit. I willed the miles away, still concentrating hard but every 20 minutes or so I randomly punched the air with alternate hands to keep warm, and to stay awake. The drysuit was working, and I was still dry, but chilled.

We slept alternately, properly, in our sleeping bags, and even had to shake out one reef as the wind abated.

When I woke, I saw Tony ‘goose-winging’ the sails, one either side of the boat as the wind was now behind us again. He was concentrating hard, but announced that we only had two miles to go.

We tucked the boat into a narrow bay that offered some protection and deliberately ran her aground in the shallow water. We were 100 yards from where we had started yesterday; it had been a long 26 hours.

Right: Arctic Mariner under sail in an ice-free passage

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ON TEST GRAND SOLEIL 46LC

A cruiser with class The first true cruiser from this Italian yard aims for comfortable sailing, easy handling and a light interior, finds Toby Hodges antieri del Pardo, based in Forli in Italy, has built nearly 4,000 Grand Soleil yachts in its 42-year history.

Every model shares a common trait: all have been performance-based cruiserracer designs – until now. The 46LC is Grand Soleil’s first cruising yacht, and it will make you sit up and take notice.

A cruising yacht means different things to different sailors. LC stands for ‘Long Cruise’ and there are many clues that this

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Italian brand is targeting warm weather/ Mediterranean-type cruising. For a start the deck is replete with relaxation areas: a double sunbed nestles in the foredeck, there are aft-facing lounger seats in the cockpit and a large swimming platform aft that lowers hydraulically.

But these features are matched by practicality in a cockpit that provides protection for its crew by means of high bench coamings and a

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

FACTS

Test Editor Toby Hodges

Where we tested: Lavagna, Liguria, Italy Conditions: at waters Force 2 min to consistent Force 3-4 Model: three-cabin, two-heads layout, with optional taller mast, Code 0 pack and electric winches

Photos by Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

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ON TEST: GRAND SOLEIL 46LC

A rollbar arch keeps mainsheet and boom clear of the cockpit for easy, safe cruising.

Sail systems are led to the helm

between the mass production cruiser offerings of French and German yards and high-end – and typically more traditional – cruisers from northern Europe.

Seven years ago, faced with a decline in sales of racing yachts, X-Yachts took the bold decision to produce a new cruising line. It helped keep the company trading during the downturn, but the Xc line is still very much a Scandinavian-style cruiser, traditional in both looks and interior finish.

Italian through and through The 46LC is Italian through and through, a design collaboration between Marco Lostuzzi and Nauta Yachts. She has bold looks, straight, angular lines, with big tinted hull portlights contrasting with stark topsides. And she has space and comfort to enjoy warm conditions to the full, is nimble enough for light-wind sailing and has a light, open and spacious interior.

Why hasn’t Grand Soleil produced a cruising yacht before? General manager Fabio Planamente says the company has been planning a cruising range for some years, but that this LC line only evolved once the company was back under Italian ownership. Now is the right time, he believes, to cater to different customers, including new clients from powerboat markets and those wanting to step up in quality from the larger production brands.

Grand Soleil’s most productive year was 2007 on the eve of the recession, when 187 boats were built. Today, after a brief spell under the umbrella of Bavaria, it enjoys a long-term commitment from current owners the Trevi Group and the focus of the company is on quality not quantity. “We want to produce around 50 boats per year in very good quality,” says Planamente.

The code of sailing

rollbar-style arch that keeps the boom and mainsheet clear of the cockpit and also helps support a full cockpit bimini.

Now you may be forgiven for thinking that this is similar to many other performance cruisers launched in recent years, particularly by Italian yards. These are typically fast cruisers: lightweight, flat-decked, trendy yachts that can be raced occasionally. But few are proper cruising yachts with hull shapes that will softly part the seas and provide good tankage, a comfortable cockpit and adequate stowage for long-term sailing.

Grand Soleil’s new yacht marks the start of a range that will address that gap

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It was fitting that we tested this Med-style 46LC in archetypal Mediterranean cruising conditions: 6-14 knots over flat water. We sailed out of Lavagna, staying offshore to find the best breeze, and nosed into the colourful picture-postcard cove of Portofino for lunch.

The test boat had performance upgrades that included a taller mast (by 1m), plus rod rigging and a hydraulic backstay. But she still felt a little sluggish under white sails when the breeze was in single figures. The standard self-tacking jib ensures she is easy to manage, and helps her point high and tack sharply. But it was only when the wind nudged up to double figures that we could clock 6-6.5 knots.

In these light conditions it’s all about the Code 0, however. This close-reaching furling sail, set from the end of the 46LC’s chunky bowsprit, is the first option I would tick on the specs list. It can

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The carbon bowsprit is wide enough to stand on and has nonslip grip on top – useful if mooring bows-to. It also neatly houses the anchor underneath.

Huge anchor locker – this contained 100m of chain on the test boat. The sail locker is comparatively small, but large enough to stow the furled Code 0.

Split chainplate bases allow side deck access to the foredeck. Flat topped coamings make it easy to step from cockpit to side deck.

A carbon fibre arch keeps the mainsheet clear of the cockpit and provides support for a huge sprayhood and bimini.

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Long hatch covering the shallow companionway slides into the coachroof and the washboards recess equally neatly vertically.

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No lockers under the cockpit benches. Instead cockpit stowage is in the bilge-deep central locker under the sole. The test boat also had a watermaker here.

The large stern platform hinges hydraulically; once lowered, an integrated step and liferaft stowage are revealed.

completely transform light-airs sailing, inducing heel, speed and pleasure in breeze as light as six knots true. In these conditions I wanted to remain at the helm for most of the long day.

The 46LC is only one tonne heavier than the Grand Soleil 47, but she has a much fuller, deeper shape that carries more beam aft. “A main difference compared to the performance range is that we step the masts on deck,” Planamente explains, “to stop any possibility of leaks when cruising.” Another difference is that an L-shaped keel is preferred to a T-keel. It still benefits from the same stiff structure as the performance models, including a carbon-reinforced internal grid and vacuum-infused hull and deck.

Nauta has kept the deck design as clean as possible. The arch keeps the boom and mainsheet out of the cockpit and a self-tacking jib comes as standard. And the boat can be handled using just two winches within reach of the twin wheels (although four winches are fitted to make handling offwind sails easier).

A German mainsheet is led back to the cockpit and a bank of clutches each side helps free up the working winches.

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Bins are built into the aft end of the cockpit benches to help keep the cockpit clear of rope tails. These are a little too small to cope with the amount used under sail, I felt.

The code sail enabled us to hit peak speeds of around 8.5 knots, while pointing at around 50° to the apparent wind, and our average boat speed was typically just one knot less than single-figure wind speeds. It has a deeper cut than a Code 0, meaning we could sail on a beam reach and deeper while maintaining similar speeds.

Good performance might be expected from a Grand Soleil. But the ease with which you can set, douse and trim this sail is indicative of how well this yacht has been set up for cruising. The endless furling line is led back to the cockpit, as are all the sheets and halyards, which gives the helmsman complete control.

It meant we could sail to within a few lengths of the vertical cliffs for the photos, before either gybing or furling away the code sail in seconds.

This really is a boat that can be sailed easily and comfortably short-handed, ideal for cruising, especially with families or less experienced crew aboard. The pedestals

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Above: fast and comfortable cruising under the optional Code 0

are well designed, helping to ensure the wheels are within safe reach of each other.

Crucially, the winches can also be reached easily from the wheels. What’s more, the helmsman has a comfortable position at each quarter for sitting out, with uninterrupted views forward.

The 46LC is fun rather than exhilarating to sail, which is no bad thing given her objective. The helm is neutral, with hardly any feedback at all – I even found myself having to check the numbers and angles on the instruments. The benefit of this is that you can leave the wheel without fear of a sudden round-up.

The combination of a small self-tacking jib and a large furling sail is ideal for Med conditions. The neutral helm did make me wonder if the mast might be a little far forward and the arch obviously pushes the boom up high. Planamente says he has discussed the option of lengthening the boom with designer Lostuzzi to provide more sail area and pressure on the rudder.

As we gybed back to Lavagna under a dying evening breeze, I couldn’t help but appreciate how comfortable she is for all aboard. The 46LC seems to be the right size and the right style pitched at the right

ON TEST: GRAND SOLEIL 46LC

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market level at the right time. In fact, there are few monohull designs I can think of today that I would prefer to cruise long term around the Mediterranean.

Space for travelling Some clever design tricks are used in the accommodation layout to maximise space.

The saloon sole is slightly raised, which helps create a shallow descent from the cockpit. The companionway is offset to accommodate a larger galley including an inboard sink area.

And the galley is one small step lower than the saloon, which also helps create the perception of a larger yacht.

A convertible table is preferred to a fixed navstation in the saloon; this drops to fill in a full berth. And by doing away with cockpit bench lockers, Grand Soleil has created significant extra headroom and light in the aft cabins. It is hard to over-emphasise the formidable amount of natural light that Nauta consistently manages to coax into its interiors.

A combination of a relatively deep hull and a slightly raised saloon provides generous bilge space – enough to centralise all the water and fuel tanks

Above: the convertible – another 46LC in Lavagna marina had the full suite of various options that can be fitted to enhance Mediterranean-style cruising. These include retractable telescopic davits, a full cockpit bimini, a fixed windscreen, a sprayhood that links windscreen and arch, plus a bimini over the forward sunbathing area.

Top left: novel, forward-looking coachroof window that looks good from both inside and out. Left: note the split chainplates for the shrouds, making for an easier passage long the side decks

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Saloon Tanks mounted centrally below the sole are not only ideal for weight distribution, but it also means the sole is raised. This reduces the angle of the companionway and the areas below and behind the seats are available for stowage.

Three different table options are offered, including one that drops to form a double berth. The chart table lowers to form a sofa berth. This solution works fine for short-term use, and makes for a great view through the hull port, but it has no backrest and lacks segregation/privacy from the saloon. under the saloon sole for optimum weight distribution.

The standard tank volume is 900lt (owners can specify the ratio of fuel to water), but an upgrade of a further 300lt is available. Factor in an optional watermaker and it becomes clear that the 46 is capable of living up to its Long Cruise signature.

I was also impressed to find a proper wet-hanging locker in the heads.

To help maximise internal volume, the 46LC’s freeboard is high – if you combine this with the coachroof, she is nearly 15cm higher than the 47. Despite the spacious feel this creates below, however, the doorways are all surprisingly narrow.

The joiner work is smartly finished in natural oak (teak is optional), using solid wood around rounded corners and surrounds. And there are some tidy details, including the cotton sidelining, LED courtesy lights and dual Oceanair blinds fitted to all hatches.

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Galley The offset companionway helps to create space for a practically laid-out galley. The inboard island incorporating the sink provides useful support for working at heel and the generous work surfaces have high fiddles. There is plenty of stowage in the galley area in the form of soft-closing drawers, deep, raised lockers (which continue through the saloon), bottle stowage in the bilges and a bin area below the sinks.

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Forward cabin

All three cabins have hull portlights and provide superb space and light for a boat of the Grand Soleil’s size. The master cabin has good stowage in a large hanging wardrobe, plenty of raised lockers and deep drawers below the island berth. The compact ensuite works well and has a separate shower.

ON TEST: GRAND SOLEIL 46LC SEE THE VIDEO yachtingworld.com/ grandsoleil46lc4

DATA GRAND SOLEIL 46LC

Or scan this code with your phone or tablet to access the GS 46LC video

SPECIFICATIONS LOA

14.72m

48ft 4in

LOD

14.00m

45ft 11in

LWL

12.72m

41ft 9in

Beam (max)

4.41m

14ft 6in

Draught

2.30m

7ft 7in

12,000kg

26,455lb

Disp (lightship) Ballast

4,200kg

9,259lb

Sail area (100% foretriangle) 99m2

1,067ft2

Berths

6-9

Engine

75hp shaft drive

Water

600lt

132gal

Fuel

300lt

66gal

Sail area:disp

19.2

Disp:LWL

162

Price ex VAT: â‚Ź369,000 (ÂŁ270,424) Price as tested: â‚Ź499,102 (ÂŁ369,875) Design: Marco Lostuzzi and Nauta Yachts www.grandsoleil.net 5LJKWLQJ PRPHQW FXUYH 6DLOLQJ FRQGLWLRQ

Conclusion

Aft cabins In contrast to the majority of aft guest cabins, the aft cabins on the 46LC give an immediate impression of space and light. With no cockpit bench lockers impeding there is enough headroom to sleep head-aft. The starboard cabin has direct heads access and a clever twin berth that can convert to a double.

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At last, an Italian design that doesn’t claim to be all things to all people! This is not a cruiser-racer, racer-cruiser, performance bluewater cruiser-cum-daysailer extraordinaire. The 46LC is simply a cruising yacht ideally suited to long-term sailing in sunny climes.

So if the mass production cruising boat options are not quite cutting it, or if you want something a bit sexier, a little more luxurious, a bit classier, a bit quicker ‌ here she is.

The 46LC is a consistently good all-round yacht, which neither dazzles nor disappoints on the helm. She is what you might call a production yacht upgrade: one with more style and panache, and with greater quality and reďŹ nement.

She might be a little stark and angular for some; the contrast of the black hull portlights against the bright white topsides perhaps emphasises her slab sides a little. But this shape helps create impressive internal volume and once you’ve cruised with these large portlights and seen the blue water rushing by from down below it is hard to go back.

In my opinion, she is an ideal size and format for Mediterranean cruising, a voluminous modern monohull that might just convince any fence-sitters that they needn’t switch to a multihull after all.

+HHO > @

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NEW YACHTS Focus on big boats Elaine Bunting and Toby Hodges comment on trends in the large sailing yacht sector

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annes and Monaco shows serve as a useful gauge of the large yacht industry and this year two factors were apparent. Production and semi-custom yachts are getting larger, yet supersailing yachts are getting smaller, lighter and faster.

At Cannes it was clear that the French are focusing on production catamarans, with giant stands for Lagoon and Fontaine Pajot, but on the larger-sized production monohull front, the Italians are now taking the lead.

Companies such as Advanced Yachts, Grand Soleil, Mylius, Solaris, Ice Yachts and Vismara are the ones producing the big head-turners.

Advanced Yachts’ founder Marco Tursini thinks Italian design is prominent at the moment owing to the quality achievable for a low price. Since the recession there has been an abundance of quality boatbuilders available in Italy, he maintains.

Judging by the surge of new designs in the 60-90ft sector, typically yachts costing €1.5-5m and originating from the Italians and others such as Swan, Oyster, CNB and Michael Schmidt Yachtbau, the larger end of the production market is still strong.

Supersizes are shrinking At the top end of the scale superyachts are, conversely, shrinking, as Elaine discovered at Monaco. The super-rich are downsizing to smaller and racier superyachts, but are paying more for them.

The greatest area of activity seems to be in the 100-115ft (30-35m) size range, with particular interest in carbon composite builds. This has been fostered by the growth of superyacht regattas, once just a bit of fun, but now quite seriously competitive.

Designer Ed Dubois, who this year is celebrating 40 years in yacht design, says: “Regattas have revolutionised superyacht design in 10-15 years. I remember there were four boats in the St Barths Bucket in 2000 and one went the wrong way round the island. Now there are 36-38 boats.”

Dubois has a 190ft performance racer in build at Royal Huisman in the Netherlands and expects to start next year on a 115ft composite racer-cruiser.

Two carbon composite performance designs by Malcolm McKeon are in build, a 108-footer and a 106ft, and a 125ft carbon design by Philippe Briand is building at Perini Navi. Then there are semi-custom builds, a Swan 115s launched in Monaco and three more in build, a Frers 110 underway at YDL in

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New Zealand, a Wally 110 building in Italy, plus a Wally Cento 4, a Baltic 130 in build and plans for the new Oyster 118. Most or all of these will be heading for the racecourse.

Trend for performance “I think in the last five years the trend has been to mid-sized composite yachts that can be truly performance-orientated. Above that size you need more crew, and a lot of owners don’t feel comfortable with an army of staff,” says Nigel Ingram of MCM Yacht Management. “At this size, the comfort is super, the connection with the sea is great and the racing is a lot of fun.”

Designer Philippe Briand has also seen the change: “We believe the centre of the market that was 45-50m (148-165ft) has become centred on the 35m (115ft) range.

The bigger size has gone very quiet so we are concentrating on smaller [superyachts].

“It’s a matter of budget, and for a given length the costs at this size have inflated because building in carbon is more expensive, and with lifting keels and other features there is more complexity. For the same budget as a 45m was, you’re now getting a yacht of 30-35m, which has less crew, is easier to manoeuvre and easier to extract the potential.

“Now 90 per cent of the clients we see are coming to us looking for a composite boat. It has followed 20 years late [compared with race yacht design], but it has happened.

But building in composite above 40m (130ft) is still a big challenge.”

This has in turn meant that yards specialising in carbon composite builds, such as Swan, Baltic and Green Marine (Vitters), have gained a bigger share of the market, and other shipyards are joining in.

A decreased demand all round has meant designers have had to compete to become more inventive, and produce interesting and useful new ideas. Consequently, supersailing yacht design is at a high point of creativity.

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

SWAN 115

Nautor launches new Swan 115 flagship at Monaco The look of a true sailing yacht. The 115 is designed by German Frers

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he first Swan 115, the dark blue-hulled Solleone, represents a key part of the Finnish company’s grand plan to extend its range in both directions. With orders for four 115s, the move to semi-custom carbon superyacht territory has been perhaps more successful than even Nautor dared hope.

The company seems to have timed it just right: after a sharp contraction in sailing superyachts, interest is filtering back, though conservatively, and Nautor’s Swan benefits by being a long-established prestige brand.

“In a world full of custom yachts, this will still be a Swan in ten years’ time. Owners have an idea what the cost will be. You can adapt, but it’s a formula. We spend so much money and time on designing and engineering; you are not paying for this optimisation,” says Barry Ashmore, Nautor’s regional sales and marketing director.

But leave aside the marketing proposition and look at the yacht itself and you see something exceptional. This really does feel like a pure sailing yacht, in every respect. On

NEW YACHTS with Toby Hodges

deck it is exceptionally uncluttered, with a large forward cockpit seating area, and clean decks forward. Systems are deliberately simple, for the size, with manual steering and deck (rather than captive) winches for runners, mainsheet and headsails.

The sheer pleasure of sailing the boat, which like all modern Swans is designed by German Frers, has been foremost. Hull No 1 is a semi-raised saloon version and has been cruised this summer by Nautor’s Swan owner Leonardo Ferragamo. She has a large fat-top mainsail to capitalise on light winds, and is fully powered up in 12 knots of breeze.

In the 3,500 miles since she left the yard in Finland, Solleone has covered around half of that under sail and her captain says that she has averaged 15-16 knots in ideal reaching conditions of 18-20 knots with single reef and jib.

On deck, the Swan 115 sports some fine detailing. The teak decks are laid parallel to the centreline, rather than following the hull curve, as per Frers’s specification. There is no

kingplank and, together with light grey caulking, this gives the deck a crisp and clean look. A bimini is lowered and raised on gas struts and folds down into recessed stowage just forward of the companionway, rather like the roof of a soft-top car.

Below there is a large seating area on both sides and a dining area in the lower part, both of which can be used for parties. Crew accommodation is forward and two guest cabins and a full-beam owner’s cabin aft.

Nautor has kept the design and layout deceptively simple with little adornment other than small and not immediately noticeable touches such as stitched leather handholds and horizontal surfaces, picture frames that open up to reveal lockers.

It is a totally clean look that is an absolute fit. Superyacht it may be, but this absolutely looks like a sailing yacht and its design and execution has a timeless quality that would not be foreign to any Swan owner of times gone by. It has been beautifully done. www.nautorswan.com

Luxury without fuss – the design of the Swan 115 is deceptively simple and familiar

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NEW YACHTS

ADVANCED YACHTS 80

New 80-footer for Italian luxury brand

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dvanced Yachts is an exciting Milan-based company with a yard near Fano on Italy’s north-east coast. It builds high-end, semi-custom performance cruisers in close collaboration with some of the world’s best designers – particularly Nauta, as its founder Marco Tursini and Nauta’s Mario Pedol are close acquaintances. “We share the same office block and used to discuss designs in the elevator,” Pedol explains.

We tested the A66 in 2013 and the spectacular weekender-cum-racer-cruiser A44 in October 2014. Both impressed us for their style, build quality and innovation. With this new launch Advanced Yachts steps up in size to create an owner’s cabin aft, yet keeps to the core values of that original A66.

The result is a deliciously powerful Reichel Pugh hull and trademark Nauta streamlined superstructure. The one-level aft deck, from coachroof to transom,

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includes both a guest cockpit and a large sunbathing area aft.

Apsaras (above) is the first of these 40-tonne long-distance cruisers and is heading for the Far East. She has a full-beam owner’s cabin aft, a flexible space that can be converted to two double cabins, with galley, mess and two crew cabins all forward.

The A80 is a lesson in clean design: she looks like a flush-deck model when on deck, but the semi-raised saloon creates the wow-factor below. The freeboard was raised 5cm to help achieve a one-level cockpit, creating noticeably generous headroom in the aft accommodation.

Together with accommodating all the machinery under the raised sole, Marco Tursini believes this has contributed to providing the space more likely to be seen on a 90-95-footer. www.advancedyachts.it

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Above: the guest cockpit for lounging. Right: Nauta has created a ‘beach house’ feel, as it calls it, similar to the A66, using abundant natural light, indirect lighting and bleached teak throughout

DIMENSIONS LOA 23.98m/78ft 9in LWL 21.60m/70ft 10in Beam 6.20m/20ft 4in Draught 3.50m/11ft 6in Disp 39,700kg/87,520lb

P100 WALLY CENTO Philippe Briand has created this striking new concept as an evolution of the Wally Cento class. The goal of the box rule class, which began with the launch of Hamilton in 2012, was to create the fastest maxi-style racing with yachts that can still be cruised.

Key stipulations for the class are light displacement (the first two were just shy of 50 tonnes) for planing speeds, powerful sail plans and high stability. The rule specifies luxury cruising interiors, but designers and yards vary.

For this new P100 Briand evaluated the feasibility of the basic structure specified by the class. Using CFD analysis he created a hull form with lower freeboard and slightly

narrower beam than the first two Centos.

Described as ‘an intermediate light displacement boat,’ it is expected to be 20 seconds faster over a mile than Magic Carpet3.

The deck design looks innovative. A novel ‘roller coaster wave’ form on deck helps save weight, Briand explains. There are three different through-deck drop hatches for flying sails plus an aft sail locker. The coachroof lip can be used for bracing. www.philippebriand.com

SOUTHERN WIND 90

In a significant development for Southern Wind, the Cape Town-based yard specialising in ‘mini series’ of semi-custom superyachts is to build its first fully custom boat: a Reichel Pugh 90ft high-performance cruiser.

It is to be built in pre-preg carbon with a Nomex core and the slippery-looking hull has a gentle sheer. The design features a flush deck and wide, open transom.

Much time and care has gone into

designing an efficient deck layout with lightweight hardware including custom tracks and titanium blocks, with equal care carrying through an interior by Nauta.

The yard celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2016 with a regatta for Southern Wind designs old and new in Capri in May, and will deliver an SW102 late this year and an SW82 in the spring. www.southernwindshipyard.com

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NEW YACHTS

VANTAGE 86

Round the world 86ft performance catamaran A new British company is about to begin building an 86ft fast catamaran that it hopes will kickstart interest in several more of the same. The design is for a British businessman called Brian Scowcroft, who currently has a Spirit Yachts 37.

Scowcroft has an appetite for adventure and an ambition to cruise round the world with his family, including his grandchildren, and had always wanted to build his own performance cruiser. But there is a twist.

He is a keen biker and wanted to take two motorbikes with him.

Former charter skippers and currently build project managers Phil Scott and Tom Ashwell, based in north Wales, introduced him to Nigel Irens. The result is a design for an 86ft catamaran and the formation of Vantage, a company Scowcroft has created with Scott and Ashwell to build the boat and hopefully to produce more from the same mould.

The principle of the design was a self-sufficient bluewater cruising yacht that

will be able to sail long distances at speed, logging 400-mile days, or more.

Irens and Green Marine have worked together to finalise design plans and it is likely that the boat will begin building at Green Marine early in 2016. The 37.5m mast will be built by Southern Spars and Doyle has been commissioned to build the sails in the

ALPHA 78

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A lightweight design to allow the owner to carry two motorbikes aboard

UK – Vantage is proud to promote this as an all-British project.

The catamaran has some similarities to the Irens-designed Gunboats, in that there is neither a flybridge nor a forward beam. The helm position is also located at the forward end of the cockpit.

Carrying two motorbikes within the lightship payload was one of the biggest challenges, says Phil Scott. Everything possible is pared back, with anything non-essential, such as air conditioning, left out in the quest for light weight.

One discussion point about the rig was whether to go for a rotating wingmast or a conventional stayed rig. Irens’s recent performance catamaran, the 78ft Allegra, has a rotating mast, but when it was found necessary to increase rig tension this restricted its ability to rotate.

After consulting British multihull sailing expert Brian Thompson, the Vantage team decided that the risks of a rotating rig for offshore cruising were greater than the benefits it could offer. So the mast is to be built with chord length and aerodynamics similar to a wingmast, but will be fixed in place with conventional standing rigging.

She will have conventional daggerboards and Scott and Ashwell say there has been “some progress on designing a T-foil rudder”, which would help keep the boat sailing straight and level and also reduce draught so that it would be possible to take the ground in remote places to make essential repairs.

For the interior, Scowcroft has worked with a French industrial designer on a very lightweight interior. It will have a simple style that purposely reveals elements of the structure, and some of the joiner work will be in dark-coloured bog oak.

After building, the plan is to market the design and build up to six more Vantage catamarans from the same moulds. www.vantagecatamarans.com

Holland Jachtbouw carbon cat Moving into two new territories, Dutch shipyard Holland Jachtbouw is to build a carbon composite cruising catamaran.

“We believe the future is in composite,” says Geert Kuijpers, commercial manager. “We have found these performance sailing yachts are more and more in demand. That works up to 55m (180ft) and after that [composite build] becomes very expensive.”

The 78ft catamaran has been designed by Berret-Racoupeau with an interior by Nauta Yachts. Hull No 1 is to be built for a client, but the intention is that it is the start of a semi-custom series known as the Alpa 78. A model of the boat

was on display at Monaco and shows a distinctive modern hull shape with reverse sheer and dreadnought bows.

“We feel there is a growing interest in catamarans and it is significant for a new market,” says Kuijpers. The shipyard has traditionally built hulls in steel and aluminium. To make this step into composite construction it is entering into a supplier partnership arrangement with two companies already experienced in this type of build: the French company Multiplast, based in Vannes, and Persico Marine in Italy, well-known for building TP52s, mini-maxis and VO65s. www.hollandjachtbouw.nl

EUPHORIA 68/84 Sirena Marine, builder of both and Euphoria brands, continues to gather momentum in the yacht production market.

The yard is owned by one of the wealthiest families in Turkey, who also own the leading automotive production company Kiraç Holding. Its efficient method of series production is very impressive.

The first of the German Frers-designed Euphoria line, the 54, was exhibited at the Southampton Boat Show this year, when the latest plans for larger models to this line were also revealed.

The 68, the first of which is due for launch in the spring of 2016, uses the same design team as the 54, including British firm Design Unlimited for the interior.

Design Unlimited’s Mark Tucker says that they have continued the contemporary theme introduced on the 54 and describes the 68 as a “modern performance sailing yacht as well as a family cruiser”.

She has three different three-cabin layout options, including both an aft and forward owner’s cabin, each with crew quarters in the bows. “The hull follows a similar concept to her smaller sister,” says German Frers, “although this time, and in view of the larger size, we have decided on a twin rudder configuration.”

The 84 exhibits the clean lines of her smaller sisters and is also described as a dual-purpose yacht. Her guest cockpit is

IN BRIEF JFA and Privilège to produce a series of super-cats JFA Yachts and Privilège Marine have announced a plan to collaborate on a new series of big catamarans, which will extend Privilège’s range from 51ft to 100ft.

The French Privilège series now includes models 5 (51ft), 6 (64ft), 7 (74ft), 8 (85ft) and 10 (100ft).

The first three models in the range are to be built in composite, and constructed in Les Sables d’Olonne. JFA Yachts will build the 85 and 100-footers in Concarneau in aluminium and composite. www.privilege-marine.com

Brenta 80 separated from the sail handling positions by a raised sunbathing area. Frers says that a composite T-keel with twin rudders is designed to suit fun, fast sailing as well as long-distance cruising. Her four-cabin layout has a notably spacious saloon. www.euphoriayachts.com

The Euphoria 84 (above) and the 68 share the family styling of the 54

BALTIC YACHTS 130

The peppermint green topsides of the recently launched Brenta 80DS, a new venture by Michael Schmidt Yachtbau, ensured that she was the standout yacht among a fleet of 60-80-footers moored stern-to at the Cannes boat show.

From the colour scheme to the highly innovative central cockpit design to the David Chipperfield-styled accommodation this is a funky new semi-custom 80ft composite cruiser.

Look out for our full report and pictures next month.

CNB 92 Groupe Beneteau’s larger, luxury boatbuilding arm has plans for seriesbuilt yachts bigger than its present CNB 76. When we sailed the first 76 two years ago, the company was hoping to sell three per year. They’ve since sold ten. Hence plans just revealed to launch a follow up CNB 92 shouldn’t be a surprise.

Designer Philippe Briand is carrying out preliminary design work for competitively priced yachts at the superyacht size.

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Baltic Yachts is building a new 130-footer designed by Reichel Pugh. A sharp-looking yacht with plumb bow, a fixed bowsprit and beam carried well aft to a wide and open transom, this yacht has strict weight goals.

She will have a retractable propulsion system and a lifting keel.

Her rig will be by Southern Spars and

Nauta Yachts is creating the interior.

Last year Baltic launched the striking carbon racer-cruiser 108 WinWin and has recently launched Doryan, a composite Judel Vrolijk 116-footer for cruising. This design is for an experienced owner, who will race the yacht, and it will be delivered next year. www.balticyachts.fi

Sleek-looking 130-footer in build at Baltic

The fourth Wally Cento is being built at Green Marine and a new Frers-designed Wally 110 is under construction in Italy.

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A 110ft Frers design with an interior by Adam Lay is in build at Yachting Developments in New Zealand. A key element of the design brief was for it to be easily handled by a small crew. The yacht is due to be delivered next year.

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NEW GEAR Jeanneau/Harken Assisted Sail Trim (AST)

Sail handling with no hands his new Assisted Sail Trim (AST) program, developed by Harken and Jeanneau, uses sensor-driven reversible or captive winches to allow a yacht’s sails to be trimmed, tacked or even furled automatically. In essence, it means all sail handling can be controlled from a single screen at the helm station.

The AST computer compiles data from onboard electronics, including wind, compass and gyro information from the autopilot to command the winches. It can trim the boat automatically, according to wind direction or course heading.

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Who’s it for?

The advantages of AST are easy, safe sailing, when cruising short-handed on large yachts.

“The big question we had to address was who are we looking to help?” says Jeanneau’s sailboat product director Erik Stromberg. He explains that there are complicated winch systems already aboard most 50ft plus yachts, but these can’t speak to each other. So the technology was already in place to cater for the current trend of people sailing bigger boats with fewer crew aboard.

“The electronics have moved to the cockpit, the winches from the coachroof aft – large yachts are becoming easier for one person to handle. AST is a logical step: it’s following that market trend.”

AST was developed with Harken over a three-year period aboard a Sun Odyssey 519 and is designed for use initially on the 50ft plus range. “A couple will sail a 64, while you may have eight people aboard a 34-footer,” Stromberg reasons. This system will cost the same whatever the size of boat, however – €15,000 on top of the electric winches that would typically be standard on a 50-footer. So it makes more economic sense on larger yachts.

Jeanneau believes that the take up of AST will be similar to its Dock n Go joystick motoring system, an option chosen by 20 per cent of owners of 45ft plus yachts.

AST started with Harken’s idea for a fully automated boat. The fact that Harken and Jeanneau used a proper prototype testbed for their live testing – before anyone outside the development team knew of its existence – is impressive, and shows how seriously the project is being taken.

The automated yacht Stromberg explains that the biggest challenge was getting the hardware and electronics to talk to each other. Incorporating sensors on the winches to make sure they run at the correct speed was key.

Full production units are now at the assembly stage and Jeanneau has the exclusive use of AST with Harken for the first year. “There are many extra features that will

If the wind increases, pushing the heel past a pre-defined angle, AST can automatically ease the mainsheet

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be easy to add in,” says Stromberg. “But we chose to communicate it our end with a limited number of functions that are most useful to the customer.”

AST is operated via a dedicated industrial screen. There is nothing to stop the system moving to multifunction displays, but it’s a choice Jeanneau avoided as it feels these are already too cluttered.

A Sail Management package is available that can raise and furl the sails. Load sensors will detect jams and ease halyards.

There is a manual mode, which allows the operator to tune and trim, or open up the automated functions. But Jeanneau

NEW GEAR with Toby Hodges

A fully installed AST system can trim and tack a yacht automatically, or be set to ease sheets during a gust

Auto Tack

The helmsman engages the function and turns the wheel through the tack, while AST releases one winch and trims the new working one to the same trim angle as on the previous tack. It is not linked to the autopilot, so the helmsman remains in control

Auto Trim

stresses that you still have to trim the sails properly first, as the computer learns from this. “We didn’t want to link it to the autopilot for Auto Tack – you have to push a button to do it, so you have to be at the helm, in control.”

And even those who elect to have an AST system on board needn’t necessarily activate the system. “You can still own a Ferrari with cruise control, without being a poor driver,” says Stromberg.

So it is now possible for a computer not only to steer and dock your yacht, but to set, trim and tack the sails too. No doubt it will prove as controversial as it is intriguing. €15,000 (£11,016) www.jeanneau.com

Dedicated screen for the AST. The operator must be at the helm to control the functions

Auto Trim is comparable to the cruise control function in a car. It is particularly useful for long-distance sailing – as either the boat’s heading or the wind direction changes, the sheets can adjust themselves automatically

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NEW GEAR

SailTimer small boat wind instrument Three years ago SailTimer brought out the first masthead anemometer to work with smartphones and tablets. Now the Canadian company has produced a more compact version for small yachts, the first of its kind, and one that can be used on trailer-sailers, multihulls and keelboats.

It looks like a clever device for many reasons.

The wireless wand is designed for masts under 6m (20ft), including wingmasts and is submersible in case of capsize. It doesn’t even need to know which way the boat is heading to calculate wind direction, thanks to a digital compass with 3D motion sensor built into the tail of the wind direction arrow.

The in-built solar panel means no power supply is required and there are mounting options available that negate the need to climb up or lower the mast.

The cup design looks particularly novel.

“Anemometers have been using hemispheric cups since the 1800s,” says SailTimer’s president Craig Summers. “But when your boat is sailing along heeled over, the wind is hitting the wind cups from underneath, so they spin no faster.”

SailTimer has a patented new design for the wind cups, specifically for heeling yachts. “They maintain equal accuracy when the boat is upright or heeled over,” says Summers. “When they are upright, they work like wind cups. Then when the boat heels over, they work like a propeller.” A larger version for cruising yachts is also planned.

Price US$399 (£258). www.sailtimerwind.com

Salca anode line cutter

Chart Art Race Canvas

Silver Spinnaker bags

Salca shaft anode line cutters perform the dual task of keeping a propeller free from entanglement and corrosion.

The compact zinc anode is fitted with stainless steel cutting blades, comprising two halves that are fastened around the shaft.

Interform Marine is now distributing this solution in the UK, and its low price will make it a particularly attractive retrofit for yachtsmen.

Price from £40. www.interform-marine.co.uk

Want a memento of your Fastnet Race? Chart Art, from photographer Rick Tomlinson, is creating these unique charts of the Rolex Fastnet Race, which include an individual yacht’s track, the time at the Rock and the finish, plus a personalised panel that includes the name and details of the entrant. They are printed on canvas and stretched over a box frame ready to hang. Other high-profile events can also be ordered. Price £169 for 30x18in canvas. www.chartart.com

SailorBags has launched a new range of Silver Spinnaker lightweight sports bags. The range gains its name from its nylon Ripstop fabric, chosen for its light weight and durability. The collection currently includes seven items, ranging from a large duffel bag or compact Racer version, to a sundry or bottle bag. The bags are water- and stain-repellent and use YKK zips.

Price from US$30 to $120 (£19-78). www.sailorbags.com

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4 NEW MOUNTING SOLUTIONS Interform MarinePods As sailors rely more and more on electronic navigation, so the chart table tends to shift out to the cockpit. This new MarinePod range is designed to satisfy the demand to house chart plotters and instruments at the helm station. Manufacturer Interform Marine says it uses vacuum-formed acrylic-capped ABS as it is lighter and cheaper than GRP and it produces a fine and durable finish.

Price from £195. www.interform-marine.co.uk

Railblaza Extenda Pole 1000

Harken bronze and chrome Radials Winches can tend to look a bit samey at production boat size, so those with a high regard for aesthetics might welcome news that Harken now offers these bronze and chrome versions of its Radial line. The benefit of the Radial drum shape is that when a line is eased, the angle of the ribs are said to drive the wraps down to prevent overrides. The stripper arm is designed for safety as it covers the winch top and does not rotate. The new Radials are available in self-tailing or plain-top styles and with manual, electric, or hydraulic drives.

Price TBA. www.harken.com

This looks like a versatile pole, either for the pushpit or tender, on which to mount lightweight objects such as flags, navigation lights or cameras. It is available in one, two or three parts – each extension adding 300mm to the 380mm base pole. This base fits New Zealand manufacturer Railblaza’s StarPort mounts (winch handle-style fittings), while the top section holds other Railblaza accessories and has an eye for securing flags. The Extenda Pole is corrosion- and UV-resistant.

Price NZ$45 (£20). www.railblaza.com

XSories Bendy range A clever new range of flexible tripods that wrap around most objects to allow versatile, yet stable shooting angles for cameras, action cams or smartphones. The Bendy range features non-slip feet, 0.25in universal screw bases for attaching cameras and adjustable ball-heads for creating optimum shooting angles. They are available in three sizes and six colours.

Price from £15.99. www.xsories.eu

Kitvision action cam accessories

Fugoo Tough speaker Here’s a handy solution for music on deck without needing to drill speaker holes through your cockpit benches. This waterproof and wireless Fugoo speaker can play music from your phone via Bluetooth and has 40 hours of battery life, so makes for a useful portable option to take ashore too. Branded the Tough, it is dust-proof and can be dropped 10ft.

Fugoo also has a range of mounting accessories available.

Price £175. www.amazon.co.uk

The Dorset-based company has launched a range of new accessories to enhance or ease the use of action cameras when afloat. The Kitvision Anchor and Kitvision Buoy look the most practical for sailors – these sturdy grips help capture smooth video no matter how shaky the platform or vessel. The Anchor is weighted and will sink, so you can film yourself swimming above it, while the Buoy floats.

There are also some innovative extension and tripod-style mounts in this new collection.

Price from £17.99. www.kitvision.co.uk

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PART 3

Anchoring and picking up a mooring Catamarans can be a bit frisky at anchor, but multihull expert Nigel Irens has some tips to make anchoring and mooring safer and more comfortable

SERIES AUTHOR NIGEL IRENS One name stands out when you think of multihull design: the British designer Nigel Irens.

His career began when he studied Boatyard Management at what is now Solent University before opening a sailing school in Bristol and later moving to a multihull yard. He and a friend, Mark Pridie, won their class in the 1978 Round Britain race in a salvaged Dick Newick-designed 31-footer. Later, in 1985, he won the Round Britain Race with Tony Bullimore, with whom he was jointly awarded Yachtsman of the Year.

His first major design success came in 1984 when his 80ft LOA catamaran Formule Tag set a new 24-hour run, clocking 518 miles. During the 1990s it was his designs that were dominant on the racecourse: Mike Birch’s Fujicolour, Philippe Poupon’s Fleury Michon VIII, Tony Bullimore’s Apricot. Most famous of all was Ellen MacArthur’s 75ft trimaran B&Q, which beat the solo round the world record in 2005.

His designs have included cruising and racing boats, powerboats and monohulls, but it is multis he is best known for.

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mong the plus sides of cruising in a catamaran is that inherent shallow draught offers access to plenty of sheltered and attractive anchorages that are not available to deeper-keeled yachts.

The general game plan in laying an anchor on a cat under power is much as it is on a monohull – approach the spot where you intend to drop the anchor from dead downwind and signal to the foredeck when you are ready for it to be dropped.

The only snag is the catamaran’s stubborn desire not to remain in a stable condition head-to-wind in anything but the lightest breeze. It’s just as well, then, that the twin engines allow you to hold station and heading reasonably well, provided you’re firm with the controls and act with as much deliberation as you can muster.

It obviously helps if you can avoid

hanging around too long in limbo with no way on – which invites that headwind to take control of the boat.

Keeping your position Once the anchor is on the bottom you can drop back downwind – once again playing the engine controls to help the boat stay head to wind until the point where you have snubbed the anchor in.

If you’re operating in waters that are free from tidal movement or other currents you might expect to lie head to wind like the other boats around you, but there’s another snag that needs to be addressed before you can feel relaxed about this. The problem is related to the above-mentioned reluctance of a catamaran to lie head to wind, although with any luck your boat will already be fitted with a solution to this one.

What happens is that the boat starts to

An instructional 8-part series in partnership with Pantaenius 80

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Watch the video at yachtingworld. com/cat3

Decide how much chain you will pay out before lowering the anchor

When you are happy that anchor is secure, attach the bridle hook onto the chain

Hold onto the recovery line as the anchor chain is paid out

directly to the bow roller. This involves attaching one end of a rope to each bow and the middle of the resulting span to the anchor chain or warp. As the bow of the boat falls off the wind axis the tendency is for the rope on the lee bow to take the load as the windward one goes slack.

This asymmetric load will be far more effective in putting the boat back head to wind before it has had time to build up any speed than a single rode to the centreline.

Anchor sequence You can experiment with the length of the bridle, but something approaching an equilateral triangle (as viewed from above) seems to work pretty well, although the boat you’re sailing probably has the bridle already set up correctly and ready to use.

So the sequence of events in anchoring is roughly as follows:

The bridle has now taken the load and the anchor chain to the boat is now slack. Note recovery line

Clear hand signals are also required when raising the anchor to help the helmsman reduce load on the windlass

Come what may!

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Photos/video: R Langdon/Ocean Images

range around the anchor. This process begins as the bow falls off to one side or the other and the boat starts to ‘sail’ forward – say at about 45° to the wind axis. Eventually the bow will be forced to come head to wind because the direction of travel can only be a radius around the anchor.

Eventually the boat slows down and comes to wind, but because the anchor rode is still pulling the bow to one side the boat tacks through the eye of the wind and sets off with renewed vigour on the other tack.

It’s not hard to imagine that this cyclic pattern can repeat itself until the boat is careering about, taking up much too much space in the anchorage and generally winding up the neighbours. Viewed from above the physics of this phenomenon is not unlike that which makes a flag flap.

To solve the problem the anchor rode needs to be attached to a bridle rather than

PART 3: ANCHORING/PICKING UP A MOORING ³ Pick the best looking spot to anchor ³ Approach the chosen spot from downwind and give the crew the go-ahead to drop the anchor when you’re in position. ³ Move astern downwind as the crew pay out the anchor rode and snub the anchor in. ³ Set the bridle and slacken the anchor rode until the load is taken up by the bridle. ³ If the boat won’t settle at her anchor for some reason – fickle winds, some unwanted counter current or whatever – you may have to think about laying a second anchor.

This is best done from the tender and although the learning curve might be quite steep, a bit of trial and error could leave you better placed for the day you need to ride out heavy weather from a known direction.

The second anchor should be set so that the angle between the first and second anchor chain is between 90° and 60°.

Picking up a mooring If you are picking up a mooring rather than anchoring, visibility – or the lack of it – might be a problem, so the old tactic of getting a crewmember to hold the boathook aloft from the forward end of the boat and point it at the buoy is as good a way as any of telling the helmsman what’s happening.

If the buoy you’re aiming to pick up has no rope or chain leader attached to it then it might be almost impossible to get a temporary line through the ring without launching the tender – especially if your freeboard is high. If so there’s a cheeky work-around involving offering the boat up to the mooring stern first.

For a start the helmsman should have

Using a boat hook to help guide the helmsman to the buoy that you want to pick up. Don’t worry about looking like a whaler about to launch a harpoon!

Do’s and don’ts Do spend some time practising holding your catamaran head to wind under power.

Do snub the anchor in properly so that you can feel the boat being tugged forward when you put the engine back in neutral.

Do make sure your crew are properly briefed about their role in making anchoring and mooring a pleasure.

Don’t forget to make sure they know they should delay paying out more chain after the anchor has hit the bottom until the boat is visibly moving astern. This avoids the risk of chain piling up on top of the anchor and perhaps fouling the flukes.

Don’t drop an anchor if there really isn’t enough space.

A catamaran needs more space than other boats because it is big and often a bit frisky at anchor.

Don’t give up too easily – you have an ace card to play in that you draw less than the average monohull so can probably find some clear water that’s no use to them! In tidal waters you can even dry out and have a very peaceful night.

Come what may!

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both a good view of the buoy and the ability to communicate with the line handler. Once a line has been attached, the helmsman should be able to spin the boat round easily enough so the line handler can to bring a slack mooring line round to the bow as the boat turns – but not so slack as to risk it getting sucked in by the propeller, which could be embarrassing at best and dangerous at worst.

Mooring sequence A recap on the procedure would read something like this: ³ Find the buoy you have been allotted – or choose a suitable one if you haven’t had any specific instructions. ³ Bring the boat up to it from downwind and get the crew to bring up the leader with the boat hook, get a temporary line through the eye and secure the free end on a cleat or any other strong point that comes to hand. ³ That’s it – you’re safe! It just remains to set the bridle as above and you’re done.

Anchoring or picking up a mooring under sail is more difficult than would be the case in a monohull. This results from that old problem about catamarans being more skittish than monohulls, having more windage above the water and less hull below it.

That is not to say that it couldn’t be attempted when an anchorage is spacious enough and not overcrowded. On the contrary, taking on such challenges in the right conditions helps build confidence and develop the skills necessary to anticipate the way the boat will behave in different circumstances.

Ultimately much of the pleasure that sailing has to offer involves mastering new skills and developing prowess in handing whatever boat you happen to be sailing.

Inevitably doing so involves taking on challenges that will get your adrenalin popping from time to time – as it is meant to do. It was ever thus!

Our eight-part Catamaran Sailing Skills series by Nigel Irens, in partnership with Pantaenius, is essential reading for anyone considering a catamaran after being more familiar with handling a monohull. Each part is accompanied by a free video which you can find on our website www.yachtingworld.com

1 From mono to multi October 2015 2 Handling under power November 2015 3 Anchoring/picking up a mooring December 2015 4 Cruising upwind under sail January 2016 5 Cruising downwind under sail February 2016 6 Coping with heavy weather March 2016 7 Safety and man overboard April 2016 8 The future of multihull cruising May 2016

This series follows on from three previous successful multimedia series we have done in partnership with marine insurance company Pantaenius: the Sail Faster, Sail Safer series with solo sailor Pip Hare; Skip Novak’s Storm Sailing Techniques and our recently completed Bluewater Sailing Techniques with long-distance cruiser Dan Bower.

Videos for all these series are online at www.yachtingworld.com and on Yachting World’s YouTube channel.

Next month PART 4

Cruising upwind under sail Potentially a cat’s weakest point of sail

A special thanks to The Moorings, which supplied a 4800 cat out of their base in Tortola, BVI. www.moorings.com

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PERFORMANCE SILVER RUDDER

Solo round a Danish rock To race solo round a rocky island in the dark in a sportsboat seems mad. Yet the Silver Rudder claims to be the world’s biggest solo race. Øyvind Bordal found it a challenge

‘

The Silver Rudder is a simple format: one boat, one crew, racing 134 miles round Funen, the second biggest island in Denmark. This year there were 330 entries, which reduced as the weather forecast became more threatening, yet 265 boats still started the race.

Silver Rudder is the brainchild of Morten Brandt, editor of the Danish yachting magazine Bådnyt. He says: “The idea was to make an event for yachtsmen equivalent to that of marathon running and Ironman triathlon. It’s about seamanship and a personal challenge outside the comfort zone.” It certainly is that!

There are seven classes: five sizes of keelboat, two sizes of multihull. Within each group it’s like a one-design race, there’s no compensation and you can show up with your boat without any handicap certificates.

The fleet is a very mixed one indeed, with hardcore racing machines racing alongside old, classic cruising vessels. Sizes this year ranged from 18ft to 46ft and I have never before competed in a race where sailors with such a varied background and experience are on the same startline. From a modern racing dinghy to sportsboats and displacement cruisers from the early 1970s with long keels and short masts made up the huge range of craft.

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Moment of glory The morning had been exhilarating. When the fleet left the narrow straits around Svendborg, a strong south-westerly piped over Storebaelt.

My Seascape 18 was basically a keel-assisted dinghy, and since the boat was borrowed and I had only sailed her once before, I had never tried sailing with the gennaker in conditions like these.

But there we were, two identical 18s side by side, screaming at each other and encouraging each other to get that gennaker up. When the other guy started hoisting his, there was no longer a choice. So up she went. After a few seconds of frantic trimming and

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Funen’s Head

Middelfart

Funen lt Be le tt Li

Simple format

This year, an A-cat would probably have taken line honours, if the skipper had not hit an island during the night.

The course has only two marks, start and finish. The mission is to circumnavigate Funen via a mixture of narrow straits and open water.

The first part is the tricky and shallow Straits of Svendborg, twisting eastwards through the archipelago. This takes the fleet into the Great Belt, a large sound between Zealand and Funen.

Going north through the Belt, you pass under Storebaelt Bridge, one of the biggest bridges in the world, and continue until Funen’s Head, the northern tip of the island. Here, westerly winds can be strong, and the seas can build up. This is the most exposed piece of water, and since the heading now is westerly, a long upwind leg is often on the menu.

After this, the fleet heads south through Little Belt, a relatively narrow sound between Funen and Jutland, the only piece of actual mainland in Denmark. This leg is normally sailed at night and can be challenging, because the current can be very strong and there are lots of shallows and small islands scattered around. The final leg takes you back into the western part of the Straits of Svendborg, a more or less straight line to the finish.

You can sail wherever you want, as long as you keep Funen to port at all times – although until the skippers’ meeting the evening before the start, the committee can decide to switch the direction of the race to suit conditions.

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I

f you want to feel real bliss, you have to experience real pain as well,’ so the saying goes. The thought seemed empty and stupid as I tried one more time to find a less painful seating position.

Both feet were stuffed under the hiking straps, my buttocks and lower back sent out shocks of agony every time the bow hit a wave.

One aching hand was grasping the mainsheet, the other the tiller extension, and the whole thing felt like riding a bull in a rodeo. On repeat.

My thoughts had begun to drift. I lifted my head. The sun was sinking below the horizon. In an hour or so it would be dark and by then the fleet would enter the narrowest stretch of water in the race. I had been washed around in heavy weather for almost 12 hours. And the finish line was still more than 70 miles away.

Storebaelt Bridge Svendborg Start/Finish

Straits of Svendborg

Annual single-handed race round the Danish island of Funen, a distance of

134

miles

Has been run for four years, and entries have increased from 12 in 2012 to

330

entries

this year, which makes it the world’s biggest event of its kind.

There are no handicap rules or course regulations, and the only rules are the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

Sailors this year ranged from

19-81

years of age and boats ranged from

18ft-46ft The fastest boat finished in

15h 48m 37h 08m the last one in

www.silverrudder.com

Above: starting downwind through the narrow straits of Svendborg. Right: Øyvind Bordal in his tiny Seascape 18 at the start of the race.

Far right: careful preparation is key for such a long solo race

PERFORMANCE with Matthew Sheahan

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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PERFORMANCE

wiggling around, the little boat took off on a series of surfs that sent me almost directly to the front of the fleet.

Then the wind dropped a little and I was able to look back. The wake was flat and straight as an arrow and a wall of sails stretched out far behind me. In front only a very daringly rigged Mini Transat boat seemed to be faster.

It was a moment of glory. I felt great!

A personal challenge One morning long before the race, I was surfing in a different way, on Facebook. An endless parade of men like myself rolled by. They were in their late forties, a few women too, pictured in marathons, triathlons, mountain bike races or long-distance Nordic skiing competitions.

Personal challenges are the name of the game nowadays – we mid-lifers want to find the edge, leave the comfort zone. In a world where everything is possible, people will chase the limits. And we can build an identity around it, too. Everything can be shared: look at me now!

I sat there on the soft office chair thinking about it for a while. I needed the same kind of kick as everyone else. I didn’t want to sit there becoming soft and weak. Running, swimming,

into the waves, almost coming to a standstill.

Sometimes she heeled over so much in a gust, that even the leeward twin rudder lost control. A Melges 24 was on her side just in front of me, mast almost in the waves, sails flogging and the skipper crawling around on the gunwale. One by one the boats I had passed on the reach came back with a vengeance, faster than me now with their longer waterlines and better stability.

I was hurting mentally and physically, and my glorious position earlier was slipping out of my hands minute by minute.

The difference between double-handed and singlehanded may seem marginal – there’s just one guy less on the boat – but believe me, the difference is huge, maybe something like having one hand instead of two, as the term implies. There’s simply nobody there to help you with anything.

That situation can be altered dramatically with a good autopilot, which makes it possible to ‘unplug’ from the helm once in awhile. You can set or drop sails, trim, eat and drink, take a leak or put some more clothes on for the night, while your electronic friend keeps the heading.

But on a Seascape 18 there’s no electrical system at all, so no autopilot. Basic things like eating or fixing stuff on the boat therefore become major projects.

After a cloudy and very dark beginning to

I was hurting mentally and physically and my glorious position earlier was slipping out of my hands biking or skiing would take ages of relentless training. But sailing . . . hey, I had spent 35 years doing that. Why not take an already existing ability and try to push that to the limit?

So here I was, getting what I asked for. After almost 50 miles of reaching, hiking and trimming like a madman, we hit the north side of the island, where 20-25 knots of wind and choppy waves hit us directly in the face. Ahead was 30 miles of upwind sailing. My arms and hands were already aching and one leg was threatening to cramp. The little boat was hobbyhorsing crazily and the bow was crashing

86

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Top: fleet heading north: start intervals of half an hour gave the smallest boats a head start. But slowly the bigger boats came creeping up from behind.

Above: in the Silver Rudder, no handicap rule is used. Below: author Øyvind Bordal at the finish

the evening, stars began to shine all over the sky as I tried to navigate between the small islands and shallows in Lillebaelt. The wind had dropped to almost nothing, which meant I was able to sit on the cockpit floor on a spare lifevest, giving my buttocks and back a very enjoyable rest. I could even eat a little.

These races are won at night, someone once said to me. It seemed logical now, when the temptation to relax was so huge, and trimming and steering precisely in the dark was so difficult. Strangely enough, my motivation was again high, maybe boosted by the fact that some of the guys on the bigger boats didn’t seem to be paying so much attention now.

But fatigue finally set in. The last hours before sunset seemed endless. I had to shake my head and change my position again and again. The night just went on and on. Luckily, the wind slowly picked up and I decided to get the kite up, as soon as I could see anything.

Finish in the sunshine First the gennaker, then the sun came up. And suddenly I was sailing again, gybing back and forth, feeling just happy and fine.

Four hours later, 100m from the finish line, the wind died away and the bunch of boats I was with drifted around for an hour or so. But after 28h 15m, I finally drifted across the line.

Jan Andersen was the first to cross the finish line in this year’s Silver Rudder in 15h 48m, just 12 minutes short of the race record – a record he holds himself. Andersen is a boatbuilder and sailed his own 34ft high-tech trimaran Black Marlin. I came 5th in my class.

In the harbour, there was an atmosphere of euphoria. I was as annoyed as a child to learn that one of the other Seascape 18s had beaten me, but after a cold beer the feeling of satisfaction filled in. Sails and clothes were hanging everywhere, drying in the sun. Weary, happy faces were to be seen all over, as the solo sailors shared their experiences on the docks, everybody high on finishing a race that in almost every sense had been something completely different. Maybe it’s as simple as that: just doing it is a victory.

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PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE

BOAT

OF THE

All photos: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

MONTH

J/11S Sharing the same hull as the popular J/111, this new boat is designed specifically for short-handed sailing. Matthew Sheahan tries her out his year’s double-handed class trophy for the Rolex Fastnet Race went to Kelvin Rawlings and Stuart Childerley aboard the J/105 Jester. Neither had raced short-handed before this season, yet both said afterwards that this was one of the most memorable and satisfying races they had ever done.

And they weren’t alone. Throughout the fleet, whether they had won silverware or not, there were plenty of other sailors echoing the same thoughts; short-handed sailing is on a roll.

Rawlings and Childerley’s J/105 is a boat that is still considered to be one of the best for the job, despite the fact that the design is now well over 20 years old. This in itself is interesting given that J Boats in general have long had a reputation for being good to sail short-handed, thanks largely to the

T

88

Above: once you’ve tried sailing the J/11S shorthanded you won’t want your crew back

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

perceived simplicity of the asymmetric spinnaker, and yet have only now launched a boat specifically aimed at this type of sailing.

Several production builders such as Jeanneau and JPK have been tapping into the enthusiasm for short-handing with models such as the Sun Fast 3200 and 3600 as well as the JPK 1010 and 1080. But finally J Boats has joined in with the J/11S. If this boat looks familiar it is because she is based on the J/111, a boat that has proved herself successful and potent in fully crewed racing. This new 36-footer shares the same hull, deck and, to a large extent, cockpit layout of the J/111, but that’s where the similarities end.

The J/11S has been tweaked to make her an easier boat to sail short-handed and more competitive. As a result she has twin rudders connected to a single tiller, a slightly

shorter rig and a smaller jib. To contribute towards the lack of bodies on the rail she has more internal ballast. She also has an alloy mast and boom.

The changes and tweaks have helped to bring her IRC handicap down from 1.096 to 1.050, a reduction that gets her under the upper rating limit for the Transquadra race, a popular transatlantic race for single and double-handed amateur sailors over 40. But J Boats believes that there is another key area in which the new model can score.

Unlike the beamy and angular Jeanneaus and JPKs, the J/11S is a more modest hull shape and as a result her builder believes she will prove to be a better all-rounder. Even from just an arbitrary glance, the J appears to have less wetted surface area aft, suggesting she will be less sticky in the light.

She’s a very seductive boat to sail, especially short-handed. Because she’s a more modest affair with a narrower beam than the other two she’s easy to get to grips with and without the wheel steering fitted in the J/111 she has a more open cockpit, which is easier to move about in.

Stretching forward to reach the jib sheets or pulling up a halyard is easy,

A slightly smaller jib than aboard the J/111 makes this boat that bit easier to handle and gets the IRC rating down

Watch the video at yachtingworld. com/j11s

nothing is too far out of reach and with the autopilot controls positioned close to the tiller it’s easy to press the ‘auto’ button and nip forward if you have to.

Not that you will want to let the autopilot steer for very long. She’s a lovely boat to sail and makes you wonder why wheel steering is so popular on most of the J Boat range.

Why numb a great feel?

She’s so light and responsive under sail you would be hard pressed to tell that she has twin rudders, she’s that balanced on the helm. Even when tacking and gybing she feels nimble. It’s only when you’re manoeuvring under engine that you start to feel her wider turning circle and the lack of prop wash on the rudder at low speeds. But these characteristics would be easy to live with when taken in the context of a boat that is a great deal of fun to sail.

She is, as you would expect, solidly built with few frills, just a simple, practical layout above and below decks.

But there is one amusing irony. Among the many reasons for J Boats’ continued success in Europe has been its asymmetric spinnaker configuration. Not only did this open up the possibilities for

A return to a symmetric spinnaker pole may surprise some people, but the short-handed gurus claim that symmetric kites are easier and safer than asymmetrics

Not a standard fitting, but bound to be popular, this is the short fixed bowsprit for the Code 0. Note the slot for the bow roller and anchor chain

With the coarse and fine-tune mainsheet systems close to hand, along with some decent chunky foot braces, it’s easy to get into the groove

As you might expect, all controls are led aft, but the size and ergonomics of the cockpit mean there are no special arrangements. She just fits

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

89

PERFORMANCE

extended downhill sleighrides for club sailors, but the ease with which the kite could be handled, especially through gybes, made life easier for the crew.

Little wonder then that as the amateur short-handed scene started to gather pace, many saw J Boats as providing the perfect platform for both inshore and offshore double-handed racing.

And yet many of those who have been sailing two-up for some time and may have started with asymmetrics, believe that symmetric kites are easier to handle for a short-handed crew. They argue that, although they may be a little trickier through the gybe in some conditions, the ability to square back the pole provides a much bigger range of downwind angles to steer, which in turn increases the range of one sail, while also making it easier to keep the helm well balanced.

Some even argue that an end-for-end pole gybe on a kite that is flying all the way through the manoeuvre is easier, more stable and less risky than gybing an asymmetric. Hoists and drops are easier and less prone to a trawl with a symmetric kite, especially if you are recovering using the ‘letter box’ drop technique where the kite is gathered between the mainsail foot and the boom.

None of which has been lost on J Boats, master of asymmetric racer-cruisers, which had blanked off the retractable bowsprit

90

moulding on the first J/11S in favour of a symmetric kite and conventional pole.

While I can see the logic, our test sail, performed two-up, suggested that we had a little more work to do on timing and technique! But whichever configuration you prefer, having the facility for both is a key advantage for this boat.

Below decks she’s a very straightforward affair with a pair of settee berths either side of the saloon table, a small galley to port and a dedicated navigation station to starboard.

Further aft under the cockpit side decks are

Above: she has a straightforward interior with galley to port and navstation to starboard. She’s simple yet well-built and easy to adapt if required

a pair of berths and the forecabin plays host to the heads and a sail locker. All of which reminds you how much space you have aboard a 36-footer when you take five people out of the equation.

The bottom line is that this is a boat that feels the right size for a short-handed crew – so much so that it seems a shame to spoil the side deck with bodies. At roughly the same length as the J/105 she also feels like a natural successor to the 680 built.

All she has to do now is head out YW there and prove it.

SPECIFICATIONS LOA 10.90m 35ft 9in Beam 3.31m 10ft 10in Draught 2.99m 7ft 3in Displacement (light) 4,600kg 10,141lb Sail area: 678ft2 Upwind 63m2 Downwind 95m2 1,023ft2 Engine 18hp Fuel 50lt 11gal Water 100lt 22gal IRC rating 1.050 Price £123,000 ex works ex VAT

Above: looking aft down below, the J/11S has a pair of berths under the cockpit side decks in the after quarters

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

Designed byJohnstone/Le Moal Built by J Boats, www.jboats.com

PERFORMANCE

5

TIPS

The port and starboard cross It’s the simplest of rules, but just keeping clear would be to miss out on some tactical options. Jonty Sherwill asked match racer Ian Williams for his tips

ith the wind slowly clocking right your original decision that the pin end was the best place to start may be in doubt, so if a half decent result is to be salvaged from this race now may be the time to act.

But the route to the right will be a minefield of starboard tack boats many of which are pressing on, hoping that the wind

W

92

will shift back. Your view up the course suggests otherwise so having made the decision that it’s time to bite the bullet and make the move.

After your tack onto port a few others are being encouraged to follow and, while some are now risking close crosses with starboard tack boats, your preference is to suffer the loss of taking stern after stern to

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

To cross or not to cross? Try to second guess what your opponent might do

ensure you get across to the right without incident. Even so keeping a clear lane of air is getting tougher to maintain as other boats further to windward join the exodus.

However, fortune favours the bold and, though either strategy could scupper the recovery you are hoping for, playing it safe could turn out to be the costliest option.

Should you have accepted the risk of

4 FAST IN, STRONG OUT

1 PORT TACK BOAT OPTIONS

2 PLAN AHEAD Before you have to make the fine judgement calls of whether you have a cross, lee-bow, or opt to duck make sure you have assessed the racecourse and know what you want to do. Try to understand what the boat on the opposite tack might want and the likely outcome and position your own boat accordingly.

A starboard tack boat may wave you across if they want to continue, but equally could lee-bow you when you go to duck if they want to protect the right.

It is hard to read their mind regarding windshifts or pressure, but if you are close to a layline you know they are likely to want to come away on the long tack.

At any crossing situation, being fast into it gives extra options when coming out. In particular, if the other boat chooses to lee-bow, having extra speed might allow you to climb off and hang in there while pointing high, or even roll over the other boat if they misjudge how fast you are.

Also, a port tack boat that is arriving at what may be a close cross must resist the temptation to sail high, especially in waves.

It might look good to start with, but once you start slowing there is a sharp reduction in VMG, which could prevent you from achieving the cross.

If it is close any hunting-up by the starboard boat is subject to Rule 16.1: ‘When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear’.

This means that if her hunting-up is so late that it is too late for you to tack away safely, then she has broken the rule.

)LZ[ K\JR ] SH[L K\JR

3 JUDGING THE CROSS

Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

From the back of your boat, if you are gaining bearing on another boat’s bow then you are crossing. You can judge this by taking a transit through their bow to the land behind. If the other boat is moving forward on the land then you are not crossing, if it is moving back then you are crossing.

Be aware that this technique only works if the distance between the boats is much smaller than the distance from the land. If the land behind is too close I sometimes use a cloud as a transit so it’s more accurate.

A windshift or bad waves can change the situation so you need to keep watching.

getting forced back to the left and possibly picking up a penalty for a late lee-bow tack rather than sticking with your safety first approach?

It’s never over until the finish line, but having a clear strategy for tackling port and starboard crosses will improve your chances of coming out smiling on the other side of each encounter.

Illustration: J Sherwill

It is important for both boats to know what the port tack boat’s potential options are as in any cross the situation can change extremely quickly.

I look to grade the relative position of the boats as follows: easy cross, marginal cross, strong lee-bow, weak lee-bow, no lee-bow.

Combined with the assessments in Tip 2 this frames what options you have and provides you with the tools to get the best possible outcome.

5 BEST DUCK V LATE DUCK When ducking a boat the best technique is to get down early so that you can bring the bow up and be on the wind as you cross their transom. However, be aware that if they are likely to lee-bow you this style of duck makes it very easy for the starboard boat.

If you think that is likely, eg when near the port layline, then a late duck makes it much harder for the starboard boat to time a lee-bow tack without either infringing or having you rolling over the top.

Bonus Pro Tip: Note: If you are the starboard tack boat trying to force the port boat to dip, but then decide to tack and lee-bow them, be aware this is an aggressive tactic and may cause confusion in more gentlemanly classes. Also keep in mind Rule 16.2 which includes: ‘… the starboard tack boat shall not change course if as a result the port tack boat [who is keeping clear] would immediately need to change course to continue keeping clear.’

Ian Williams is a five times ISAF Match Racing World Champion and the only European to hold multiple match racing world titles. Twelve times winner on the World Match Racing Tour, with 34 podium finishes, Williams is also well known on the professional big boat circuit as a tactician and has been shortlisted twice for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Award and twice for the British YJA Yachtsman of the Year Award.

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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ESTABLISHED 1894 Volume 166 Issue no 3287 EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES: The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU. Tel +44 (0)20 3148 4846. Fax: +44 (0)20 3148 8127 email: yachting.world@timeinc.com

Editor Technical Editor Production Editor Test Editor Art Editor Magazine Assistant

Elaine Bunting 020 3148 4831 Matthew Sheahan 020 3148 4843 Belinda Bird 020 3148 4838 Toby Hodges 020 3148 4832 Robert Owen 020 3148 4837 Harriett Ferris 020 3148 4842

Contributors Skip Novak, Tom Cunliffe, Pip Hare, Rupert Holmes Display Ads +44 (0)20 3148 4892 Classified Craft & Trade Ads +44 (0)20 3148 2001 Brand Manager Michael Beattie 020 3148 4889 michael.beattie@timeinc.com Account Managers Simon Spong 020 3148 4894 simon.spong@timeinc.com Tom Stevens 020 3148 4884 tom.stevens@timeince.com Account Executives Chris Wilson 020 3148 4891 chris.wilson@timeinc.com Jamie Coles 020 3148 4888 jamie.coles@timeinc.com Sam Shaw 020 3148 4882 samuel.shaw@timeinc.com Tommy Sullivan 020 3148 2625 tommy.sullivan@timeinc.com Sales Executive Chris Davey 020 3148 2529 Digital Manager Ben Leek 020 3148 4922 ben.leek@timeinc.com Advertisement Production Peter Burton 020 3148 2688 peter.burton@timeinc.com

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Allspars Ltd Ancasta Boat Sales Axxon Composites Baltic Yachts Barbados Cruising Club Berret Racoupeau Berthon International Chantiers Amel Conyplex B.V. (Contest) Dixon Yacht Design Dolphin Sails Ltd Doyle Sailmakers Inc Dubois Elvstrom Sails Farr Yacht Design Fraser Yachts Florida Inc Friendship Yacht Company Future Fibres Gerard Dijkstra & Partners Hoek Brokerage Hoek Design Naval Architects

83 96/97 83 18/19 43 87 21, 94/95 25 15 87 83 13 87 83 87 100 87 Cover III 87 45, 83 87

Hood Sailmakers 83 Humphreys Yacht Design Ltd 87 Jeckells Of Wroxham Ltd 83 Kemp Sails Ltd 83 Kiriacoulis Mediterranean Cruises Ltd 102 Lilley Marine 99 Little Ship Club 58 Marine Survey Bureau 87 Marvin Series 87 North Sails (UK) Ltd 17, 83 Northrup & Johnson 101/102 One Sails 83 Owen Clarke Design 87 Oyster Brokerage 98 Oyster Marine Ltd 2 Reckmann Mast Systems & Sails 57 Sailing Perfection Bv - Equiplite Europe 83 Sirena Marine Cover II, 23 Stephens Waring 87 Subscriptions 58 X Yachts Cover IV

Advertising – Head of Market Stuart Duncan 020 3148 4880 stuart.duncan@timeinc.com Advertorials and Sponsorship Charlotte Harris 020 3148 2619 Head of Consumer and Jeff Jones 020 3148 4229 Agency Sales jeff.jones@timeinc.com Subscription Enquiries 0844 848 0848 Head of Marketing Richard Shead 020 3148 4283 Marketing Executive Amy Golby 020 3148 4287 International Editions Poppy Lawton 020 3148 5490 Syndication 020 3148 5476 ukcontent@timeinc.com www.timeincukcontent.com Publishing Director Simon Owen Group Magazine Editor Garry Coward-Williams Managing Director Oswin Grady

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YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

107

Backfire Schuttevaer • Photographer Theo Kampa • Netherlands • 1977

If you look closely, you can see a pair of legs over the leeward rail

From the Yachting World archives, this is Schuttevaer, a modified one-tonner designed by Doug Peterson, bowling downwind and about to go into a death roll. If you look closely you can see a pair of legs over the leeward rail as a crewman is grabbed just before he disappears over the side.

What happened next is not difficult to guess: this boat, kicker on hard, is about to roll into an accidental gybe . . .

The coastal race was one of a number this yacht took part in that season preceding the Admiral’s Cup in August 1977. Schuttevaer, owned

by Dr J. C. W. van Dam, was one of the Dutch team.

Van Dam later bought another Doug Peterson design, which became known as the Serendipity 43. She was also named Schuttevaer and raced in the 1979 Admiral’s Cup and Fastnet Race, a disaster from which the crew were forced to retire.

#ywbackfire Do you have a photo to share with us? Send to yachting.world@timeinc.com or tweet @yachtingworld

108

YACHTING WORLD DECEMBER 2015

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